US Household PulseThe United States economy,
from the household inward
1 series not refreshed · updated Nov 2, 2026 Methodology
CPI 3.7%Unemployment 4.2%30Y mortgage 7.24%Saving 3.8¢ per $1Debt service 11.11%Fed funds 3.88%10Y Treasury 4.94%U.S. debt $40.594TDebt / household $301,162Household pressure 43.2

What does the federal debt cost each year?

Interest on the debt

Federal government interest payments, seasonally adjusted at an annual rate, from the Bureau of Economic Analysis national accounts, quarterly.

$1.33T
Dollars per year, Q3 2026
+7.3% from a year earlier
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$0$200.0B$400.0B$600.0B$800.0B$1.00T$1.20T$1.40T19501960197019801990200020102020$1.33T
Shaded: U.S. recessions (NBER)Dollars per year

What this measures

Interest cost depends on how much is owed and on the rates the Treasury pays as old securities mature and are refinanced. Higher rates take years to work through the whole debt, so interest keeps rising for a while even after rates stop climbing.

This series is the BEA national-accounts measure. The Federal Budget page uses the Treasury’s “net interest” budget function, which nets out interest the government receives and is somewhat lower.

Source: BEA via FRED (A091RC1Q027SBEA). Updated automatically when the source publishes. How we handle data · Embed this chart

The household economy, once a month

A short email after each month’s inflation and jobs data: what changed, what it means for a household budget, and nothing else.