Chart S.01t: Recent Total Government Spending Chart S.02t: Recent Total Spending as Pct GDP





Total US Government Spending, federal, state and local, was increasing briskly, year on year, in the mid 2000s from $4.4 trillion in 2005 to $6 trillion in the depths of the Great Recession in 2009. For several years after the end of the recession total government spending leveled out at $6 trillion. But in 2015 spending started to increase again. Estimated spending for 2020 was $9.66 trillion.

Viewed from a GDP perspective, total government spending was steady at about 33 percent GDP in the mid 2000s and then jumped, in the Great Recession, to 41 percent GDP. But in the subsequent economic recovery total government spending has steadily declined as a percent of GDP down to about 354 percent GDP in 2015. Estimated spending for 2020 was 43.5 percent GDP.

Note: The blue bars of “negative” spending are “intergovernmental transfers.” They are monies counted in the federal budget but actually transferred to state and local governments and counted again for spending on programs like Medicaid.