How big is the federal deficit?
Last month, we covered the federal debt. Now it’s time to cover what adds to it each year: the deficit. That's the gap between the money the government brings in and what it spends in a given period. If the country is running a deficit at the end of the fiscal year, that amount gets added to the national debt. Here’s how the current deficit compares with historical data.
The deficit for fiscal year 2026 (which will run from October 2025 to the end of September 2026) reached $1.37 trillion by June. That’s $29.1 billion higher, or up 2.2%, from the same point last fiscal year.
The government has run a budget surplus in 12 nonconsecutive fiscal years since 1933. The most recent surplus year was FY 2001.
The deficit more than tripled from $983.6 billion in FY 2019 to $3.1 trillion in FY 2020, largely due to pandemic-related spending on unemployment insurance, stimulus checks, and small business support.
The deficit reached 5.8% of GDP in FY 2025.
The deficit has topped 5% of GDP in 10 of the last 19 years, starting in 2007 during the Great Recession. It crossed that threshold only once in the 50 fiscal years between 1947 and 2007, in FY 1983. The all-time high was 26.9% of GDP in FY 1943.