Debt-to-GDP Ratio
The debt-to-GDP ratio compares the size of the federal debt to the size of the U.S. economy in a given period, expressed as a percentage. It's the figure most commonly used to put the dollar size of the debt — which only ever gets larger — in context against a growing economy.
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Debt-to-GDP ratio over time
FRED series GFDEGDQ188S — Total Public Debt as a percent of GDP, quarterly, back to 1966.
View as table
| Date | Debt-to-GDP |
|---|---|
| Q2 2001 | 54.0% |
| Q3 2001 | 54.8% |
| Q4 2001 | 55.8% |
| Q1 2002 | 55.7% |
| Q2 2002 | 56.3% |
| Q3 2002 | 56.7% |
| Q4 2002 | 57.9% |
| Q1 2003 | 57.8% |
| Q2 2003 | 59.0% |
| Q3 2003 | 58.6% |
| Q4 2003 | 59.4% |
| Q1 2004 | 59.8% |
| Q2 2004 | 60.1% |
| Q3 2004 | 60.0% |
| Q4 2004 | 60.6% |
| Q1 2005 | 60.9% |
| Q2 2005 | 60.6% |
| Q3 2005 | 60.4% |
| Q4 2005 | 61.3% |
| Q1 2006 | 61.6% |
| Q2 2006 | 61.2% |
| Q3 2006 | 61.3% |
| Q4 2006 | 61.8% |
| Q1 2007 | 62.3% |
| Q2 2007 | 61.6% |
| Q3 2007 | 61.8% |
| Q4 2007 | 62.7% |
| Q1 2008 | 64.2% |
| Q2 2008 | 63.9% |
| Q3 2008 | 67.3% |
| Q4 2008 | 73.2% |
| Q1 2009 | 77.1% |
| Q2 2009 | 80.3% |
| Q3 2009 | 82.4% |
| Q4 2009 | 84.0% |
| Q1 2010 | 86.5% |
| Q2 2010 | 88.1% |
| Q3 2010 | 89.6% |
| Q4 2010 | 91.6% |
| Q1 2011 | 93.0% |
| Q2 2011 | 92.2% |
| Q3 2011 | 94.5% |
| Q4 2011 | 96.1% |
| Q1 2012 | 97.1% |
| Q2 2012 | 97.8% |
| Q3 2012 | 98.4% |
| Q4 2012 | 100.1% |
| Q1 2013 | 100.7% |
| Q2 2013 | 100.1% |
| Q3 2013 | 98.7% |
| Q4 2013 | 99.8% |
| Q1 2014 | 102.3% |
| Q2 2014 | 100.7% |
| Q3 2014 | 100.1% |
| Q4 2014 | 101.3% |
| Q1 2015 | 100.5% |
| Q2 2015 | 99.3% |
| Q3 2015 | 98.6% |
| Q4 2015 | 102.6% |
| Q1 2016 | 104.0% |
| Q2 2016 | 103.6% |
| Q3 2016 | 103.6% |
| Q4 2016 | 104.6% |
| Q1 2017 | 102.9% |
| Q2 2017 | 102.1% |
| Q3 2017 | 102.8% |
| Q4 2017 | 102.3% |
| Q1 2018 | 103.7% |
| Q2 2018 | 103.0% |
| Q3 2018 | 103.4% |
| Q4 2018 | 105.0% |
| Q1 2019 | 104.3% |
| Q2 2019 | 102.9% |
| Q3 2019 | 104.6% |
| Q4 2019 | 105.8% |
| Q1 2020 | 106.8% |
| Q2 2020 | 132.7% |
| Q3 2020 | 124.1% |
| Q4 2020 | 125.6% |
| Q1 2021 | 124.0% |
| Q2 2021 | 121.8% |
| Q3 2021 | 118.5% |
| Q4 2021 | 119.4% |
| Q1 2022 | 120.4% |
| Q2 2022 | 118.2% |
| Q3 2022 | 117.4% |
| Q4 2022 | 117.4% |
| Q1 2023 | 115.6% |
| Q2 2023 | 117.4% |
| Q3 2023 | 118.1% |
| Q4 2023 | 119.6% |
| Q1 2024 | 120.5% |
| Q2 2024 | 119.5% |
| Q3 2024 | 120.2% |
| Q4 2024 | 121.4% |
| Q1 2025 | 120.5% |
| Q2 2025 | 118.8% |
| Q3 2025 | 121.0% |
| Q4 2025 | 122.6% |
| Q1 2026 | 122.6% |
Why this ratio, and not just the dollar total
A bigger economy can carry more debt at the same risk than a smaller one — the same way a larger income supports a larger mortgage. Comparing debt to GDP, rather than looking at the dollar figure alone, is the standard way economists, credit-rating agencies, and the government's own budget office track that relationship over time and across countries.
This site does not take a position on what ratio is “too high” — that's a matter of ongoing economic and political debate, not a settled fact we can cite. We show the figure and its history; interpreting it is left to the reader.
Sources & methodology
- The ratio above and the chart are FRED's own published series GFDEGDQ188S (“Federal Debt: Total Public Debt as Percent of Gross Domestic Product”), not a ratio this site computes itself — the underlying debt and GDP series update on different cadences (daily vs. quarterly), and dividing one by the other ourselves would produce a number FRED doesn't publish.
- Nominal GDP is FRED series GDP, quarterly, seasonally adjusted at an annual rate, in billions of dollars.
- Both series are fetched once per site deploy, the same way the population figure on the homepage is — see /methodology for why (FRED's endpoints don't support direct browser fetches).
- The “for reference” live figure above the chart uses the same live debt estimate shown on the homepage, divided by the nominal GDP figure above — explicitly labeled as an illustrative calculation, not FRED's published ratio.
Limitations
- GDP is a quarterly, seasonally-adjusted estimate that gets revised after initial release; the debt figure is a daily, unrevised balance. The ratio mixes an estimate with a fact, on different update schedules.
- “Total Public Debt” includes intragovernmental holdings (e.g., Social Security trust fund holdings). Some analyses use Debt Held by the Public instead, which produces a lower ratio — see /methodology for how this site distinguishes the two.
- The FRED history above starts in 1966, the earliest quarter FRED publishes for this series.