U.S. Spending Breakdown Infographic (2024)

What this graphic shows

The Trillion-Dollar Grid puts a dozen of 2024's largest and most-discussed money flows on one scale. Each square in Figure 1 is built from identical cells worth $10 billion, so area is directly comparable. The U.S. federal budget's 675 cells dwarf global recorded-music revenue, which fills about three. Clicking any square re-expresses every other figure as a multiple of it. For example, U.S. Social Security outlays come to about 49 times global recorded-music revenue.

The surrounding cards break the biggest squares down into the stories behind them: who is driving record military spending, what the U.S. government actually spends its money on, how quickly interest on federal debt has grown, where energy capital is flowing, and how money reaches developing countries.

Military spending hit a post-Cold War record

SIPRI estimates world military expenditure at $2,718 billion in 2024, up 9.4% in real terms. It was the steepest year-on-year rise since at least the end of the Cold War and the tenth consecutive annual increase. The United States ($997B) and China (an estimated $314B) together account for almost half of the total. Europe, including Russia, rose 17% to $693 billion. The fastest growth among large spenders came from Russia (+38%), Germany (+28%) and Israel (+65%).

Interest is now the U.S. budget's second-biggest line

In fiscal year 2024, the U.S. government spent $6.75 trillion and collected $4.92 trillion, leaving a $1.83 trillion deficit. Social Security remained the largest single category at $1.46 trillion. Net interest on the debt, at $881 billion, edged past both Medicare ($874.1B) and national defense ($874.0B). Interest costs were roughly $345 billion in FY2020, so they have nearly tripled in four years as rates rose and the debt grew.

Energy capital is tilting toward clean technology

The IEA's World Energy Investment 2024 report estimated total energy investment above $3 trillion for the first time. About $2 trillion of it went to clean technologies and infrastructure, and slightly over $1 trillion went to coal, oil and gas. That is roughly two dollars of clean investment for every dollar going to fossil fuels. These are in-year estimates and may be revised.

Remittances outweigh aid

Migrant workers sent an estimated $685 billion to low- and middle-income countries in 2024 through official channels, according to the World Bank. That is more than three times the $212.1 billion in official development assistance reported by OECD DAC donors, whose aid fell 7.1% in real terms. India alone received an estimated $129 billion in remittances.

Methodology & caveats

All values are nominal U.S. dollars as published by each source. U.S. budget figures are for federal fiscal year 2024 (October 2023 through September 2024). All other figures are calendar-year 2024. Several figures are estimates or preliminary (SIPRI's China and Russia figures, the IEA's investment estimates, World Bank remittances, OECD ODA) and may be revised by their publishers. SIPRI's U.S. military figure ($997B) uses a broader definition than the Treasury's national-defense budget function ($874B), so the two are not interchangeable. Squares are sized so that area is proportional to value. Values are not adjusted for inflation or purchasing power.