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    Your Share of the US National Debt

    The U.S. national debt is an obligation of the federal government, not of individual taxpayers. But dividing the total by the number of Americans is a useful rough gauge of the debt's scale relative to the economy.

    Per American
    $116,368
    Based on total gross federal debt of $38.99T divided by roughly 335.0M U.S. residents · Apr 16, 2026.

    Your household's share

    $116,376
    Same as the per-American figure for a one-person household.
    Annual interest — per American
    $0
    The federal government paid roughly $970,065 in interest on the debt in its most recent fiscal year (FY 2025), which divides out to the figure above per U.S. resident. That's your share of the cost just to service the debt — before any actual spending on programs.

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    What this calculator is (and isn't)

    The U.S. national debt is an obligation of the federal government. It is financed by issuing Treasury securities and serviced out of current and future tax revenue. It is not a personal liability — no American receives a bill for their "share."

    The per-capita breakdown is useful for comparing the scale of the debt across time or across countries. What's more consequential for most households is the annual interest expense — when it grows faster than the tax base, it competes with other federal spending and ultimately raises the cost of future debt.

    For the complete picture, see the federal debt dashboard, interest expense dashboard, or the glossary definition of Federal Debt.