Historical Debt Outstanding
Summarizes the U.S. government's total outstanding debt at the end of each fiscal year from 1789 to the current year.
About This Dataset
Description:
Historical Debt Outstanding is a dataset that provides a summary of the U.S. government's total outstanding debt at the end of each fiscal year from 1789 to the current year. Between 1789 and 1842, the fiscal year began in January. From January 1842 until 1977, the fiscal year began in July. From July 1977 onwards, the fiscal year has started in October. Between 1789 and 1919, debt outstanding was presented as of the first day of the next fiscal year. From 1920 onwards, debt outstanding has been presented as of the final day of the fiscal year. This is a high-level summary of historical public debt and does not contain a breakdown of the debt components.
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Notes & Known Limitations
Total Public Debt Outstanding Disclaimer
There are six datasets on Fiscal Data which include the national debt, which is referred to as Total Public Debt Outstanding (TPDO). TPDO is the sum of Debt Held by the Public and Intragovernmental (Intragov) Holdings. Some datasets include debt issued by the Federal Financing Bank (FFB). The datasets listed below only include debt issued by the Treasury Department. The list below provides information on where there are differences in debt calculations related to the national debt.
Debt to the Penny contains TPDO, as well as a breakout of Debt Held by the Public and Intragov Holdings. In this dataset, Intragov Holdings includes debt issued by the FFB.
Historical Debt Outstanding contains TPDO, but no breakout of Debt Held by the Public and Intragov Holdings. In this dataset, TPDO includes debt issued by the FFB.
Daily Treasury Statement (DTS) contains Debt Held by the Public and Intragov Holdings, but does not aggregate these two categories into TPDO. In this dataset, Intragov Holdings includes debt issued by the FFB. Dollar values for Debt Held by the Public and Intragov Holdings are rounded in millions to cohere with other data in the dataset. Please note that the published reports on the Fiscal Service site contain TPDO values.
Monthly Treasury Statement (MTS) contains TPDO, as well as a breakout of Debt Held by the Public and Intragov Holdings. In this dataset, Intragov Holdings includes debt issued by the FFB.
Monthly Statement of the Public Debt (MSPD) contains TPDO, as well as a breakout of Debt Held by the Public and Intragov Holdings. In this dataset, Intragov Holdings includes debt issued by the FFB. Dollar values are rounded in millions to cohere with other data in the dataset.
Schedules of Federal Debt contains Debt Held by the Public and Intragov Holdings, but does not aggregate these two categories into TPDO. In this dataset, Intragov Holdings do not include debt issued by the FFB. Dollar values are rounded in millions to cohere with other data in the dataset.
End Total Public Debt Outstanding Disclaimer
The first fiscal year for the U.S. Government started January 1, 1789. There are two entries in calendar year 1843 that coincide with the change in the start of the fiscal year for the federal government. However, there is only one entry in calendar year 1977 when the fiscal year was changed to the current format. Some columns in this dataset overlap with the Debt to the Penny, Daily Treasury Statement (DTS), U.S. Treasury Monthly Statement of the Public Debt (MSPD), and Monthly Treasury Statement (MTS) datasets.
Downloaded CSV files with values greater than $10 trillion may have the final two digits (cents) excluded due to digit limits enforced by the application used to access the file. The JSON and XML file downloads are not impacted by this limitation.
Total Public Debt Outstanding = Debt Held by the Public + Intragovernmental Holdings
Total Public Debt Outstanding is represented in this dataset by the Debt Outstanding Amount variable and does not contain the separate Debt Held by the Public and Intragovernmental Holdings amounts.
Please note that Total Public Debt Outstanding may be calculated differently within different datasets. See those datasets Notes & Known Limitations section for more details.
Preview
API Quick Guide
https://api.fiscaldata.treasury.gov/services/api/fiscal_service/https://api.fiscaldata.treasury.gov/services/api/fiscal_service/| Field Name | Display Name | Data Type |
|---|
- Parameter:
fields= - Definition: The fields parameter allows you to select which field(s) should be included in the response.
- Accepts: The
fields=parameter accepts a comma-separated list of field names (no parentheses). - Required: No, specifying fields is not required to make an API request.
- Default: If desired fields are not specified, all fields will be returned.
- Notes: When a field named passed to the
fields=parameter is not available for the endpoint accessed, an error will occur. Note that omitting fields can result in automatically aggregated and summed data results. For more information, view the full documentation on Aggregation and Sums.
?fields=- Parameter:
filter= - Definition: Filters are used to view a subset of the data based on specific criteria. For example, you may want to find data that falls within a certain date range, or only show records which contain a value larger than a certain threshold.
- Accepts: The filter parameter
filter=accepts filters from the list below, as well as specified filter criteria. Use a colon at the end of a filter parameter to pass a value or list of values. For lists passed as filter criteria, use a comma-separated list within parentheses. Filter for specific dates using the formatYYYY-MM-DD. - Required: No, filters are not required to make an API request.
- Default: When no filters are provided, the default response will return all fields and all data.
lt= Less thanlte= Less than or equal togt= Greater thangte= Greater than or equal toeq= Equal toin= Contained in a given set
?filter=undefined:eq:2020-05-31https://api.fiscaldata.treasury.gov/services/api/fiscal_service/undefined?filter=undefined:eq:2020-05-31- Parameter:
sort= - Definition: The sort parameter allows a user to sort a field in ascending (least to greatest) or descending (greatest to least) order.
- Accepts: The sort parameter
sort=accepts a comma-separated list of field names. - Required: No, sorting is not required to make an API request.
- Default: When no sort parameter is specified, the default is to sort by the first column listed. Most API endpoints are thus sorted by date in ascending order (historical to most current).
- Notes: You can nest sorting by passing the
sort=parameter a comma-separated list.
?sort=-undefinedhttps://api.fiscaldata.treasury.gov/services/api/fiscal_service/undefined?sort=-undefined- Parameter:
format= - Definition: The format parameter allows a user to define the output method of the response (CSV, JSON, XML).
- Accepts: The
format=parameter acceptsxml,json, orcsvas an input. - Required: No, the format parameter is not required to make an API request.
- Default: When no format is specified, the default response format is JSON.
?format=csv- Parameter:
page[size]=andpage[number]= - Definition: The page size will set the number of rows that are returned on a request, and page number will set the index for the pagination, starting at 1. This allows the user to paginate through the records returned from an API request.
- Accepts: The
page[number]=andpage[size]=parameters both accept integers. - Required: No, neither pagination parameters are required to make an API request.
- Default: When no page number or page size parameter is specified, the default response is
- Page number: 1
- Page size: 100
- Specifying the endpoint
- Requesting the JSON response format
- Sorting the data by
in descending order - Setting pagination parameters
https://api.fiscaldata.treasury.gov/services/api/fiscal_service/undefined?sort=-undefined&format=json&page[number]=1&page[size]=1Loading...For More API Information
- Aggregation and sums
- Pivoting
- Response codes
- Meta object
- ...and more!
