It wasn’t even a year ago that fiscal hawks were wringing their hands over a new national debt milestone: The debt had hit $38 trillion, and interest payments on an annual basis would be 13 figures.
A little over 200 days later, the U.S. national debt stands at more than $39 trillion. According to Treasury data, updated retrospectively for May 18, the debt landed at $39,008,999,901,378.68.
More than $1 trillion has been added since October 23, 2025—about $5 billion per day. The debt surpassed $39 trillion in mid-March and actually fell below it for several weeks before cresting to this point again.
Concern about the level of national debt is growing, particularly in relation to GDP, known as the debt-to-GDP ratio. This represents a nation’s borrowing versus the growth of its economy, and therefore the risk levels attached to servicing and repaying the debt. The U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio sits at approximately 123%, meaning its borrowing is bigger than the size of its entire economy.
There have been calls to better align borrowing with this metric: namely, the yearly government deficit should be targeted at 3% of GDP, rather than its current level of more than 6%. This has garnered bipartisan support, but would require a mammoth effort: The mere 3% cut would require approximately $10 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade to reach the target by 2036.
