US debt adds $422 billion in the first four weeks of fiscal 2027, reaching a record $40.59 trillion
Total US public debt rose $421.8 billion between 30 September and 29 October 2026 to a record $40.59 trillion, the fifth-largest start to a fiscal year since 1993, Treasury data show.
What you need to know
The US government's total public debt outstanding rose by $421.8 billion in the first four weeks of fiscal year 2027, from $40.17 trillion on 30 September to a record $40.59 trillion on 29 October 2026, according to Treasury 'Debt to the Penny' data compiled in the LedgerWire US national debt tracker. Measured to the same date, that is the fifth-largest October increase in Treasury's daily records, which begin in 1993, and slightly less than the $441.0 billion added at the start of fiscal 2026. The debt passed $40.5 trillion on 26 October, 69 days after crossing $40 trillion.
- Total public debt outstanding reached a record $40.59 trillion on 29 October 2026, up $421.8 billion from $40.17 trillion on 30 September, the last day of fiscal 2026.
- Measured to 29 October, that is the fifth-largest start to a fiscal year since Treasury's daily series began in 1993, behind fiscal 2024 ($508.2 billion), 2009 ($501.1 billion), 2022 ($479.8 billion) and 2026 ($441.0 billion).
- Debt held by the public accounted for $287.2 billion, or 68%, of the rise, up from $212.3 billion at the same point a year earlier; intragovernmental holdings added $134.6 billion, against $228.7 billion a year earlier.
- The debt passed $40.5 trillion on 26 October 2026, 69 days after it crossed $40 trillion on 18 August. At the average pace of the past 12 months, about $6.9 billion a day, it would reach $41 trillion around the end of December 2026.
What the latest data show
The US Treasury's Bureau of the Fiscal Service reported total public debt outstanding of $40,593,637,262,883.48 on Thursday, 29 October 2026, the most recent day in its Debt to the Penny dataset and the highest figure on record. That is $421.8 billion more than the $40.17 trillion recorded on 30 September 2026, when fiscal year 2026 ended.
Compared with a year earlier, the debt is up $2.52 trillion, or 6.6%, from $38.08 trillion on 29 October 2025. It has risen $2.08 trillion since the end of 2025, when it stood at $38.51 trillion, and $17.42 trillion, or 75%, since 2 January 2020, when it was $23.17 trillion.
A fast start to fiscal 2027, but not a record
To compare like with like, LedgerWire measured the change from the last reported day of September to the last reported day on or before 29 October in every fiscal year since Treasury's daily records began in 1993. On that basis the $421.8 billion added at the start of fiscal 2027 ranks fifth of 34 years. The four larger increases came in fiscal 2024 ($508.2 billion), fiscal 2009 ($501.1 billion, during the financial crisis), fiscal 2022 ($479.8 billion) and fiscal 2026 ($441.0 billion).
Strong Octobers are common: a year ago the debt also rose $441.0 billion in the first four weeks of the fiscal year, about $15 billion a day, before growing at an average of $6.9 billion a day over the full year. So far in fiscal 2027 the debt has grown by about $14.5 billion a day. Before fiscal 2009, no year had added more than $100 billion by 29 October.
More borrowing from investors, less from trust funds
Debt held by the public, meaning Treasury securities owned by investors, companies, the Federal Reserve, state and local governments and foreign governments, rose $287.2 billion between 30 September and 29 October 2026, to $32.71 trillion. That is 68% of the total increase and $74.9 billion more than in the same weeks of 2025, when it rose $212.3 billion.
Intragovernmental holdings, the securities held by federal trust funds such as Social Security and the military and civil service retirement funds, rose $134.6 billion to $7.88 trillion, well below the $228.7 billion added in the same period a year earlier. Debt held by the public now makes up 80.6% of the total.
Day by day in October
Treasury reported figures for 20 business days between 1 and 29 October 2026. The total rose on 14 of them and fell on 6. The largest one-day increase was $88.8 billion on 1 October, the first day of the fiscal year, and the largest fall was $31.2 billion on 28 October.
The debt moved above $40.5 trillion on 26 October, when it rose $65.2 billion, and added another $53.9 billion on 27 October. Including the fall on 28 October and a $42.6 billion rise on 29 October, it gained $130.5 billion in the last four reported days.
The road to $41 trillion
The debt crossed $40 trillion on 18 August 2026 and $40.5 trillion on 26 October, 69 days later. The previous half-trillion step, from $39.5 trillion on 16 July 2026 to $40 trillion, took 33 days, and the one before that, from $39 trillion on 17 March, took 121 days.
Over the past 12 months the debt has grown by an average of about $6.9 billion per calendar day. At that pace, the remaining $406 billion to $41 trillion would take about 59 days, which points to the end of December 2026. That is an illustration based on past growth, not a forecast: daily borrowing swings with tax receipts, trust fund flows and Treasury's cash balance.
About the data
Debt to the Penny is published by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service each business day and reports total public debt outstanding as of the previous business day, split into debt held by the public and intragovernmental holdings. Total public debt is not the same as the debt subject to the statutory limit, which excludes some items. Figures are in nominal dollars and are not adjusted for inflation or the size of the economy.
Figures in this article come from the Treasury Fiscal Data API, which the LedgerWire US national debt tracker downloads daily. All 1,715 daily records since January 2020 in the tracker matched the official API when checked on 31 October 2026, and the fiscal-year comparisons since 1993 were calculated from the full API series. Fiscal-year start figures compare the last reported day of September with the last reported day on or before 29 October. The tracker offers the full daily series as a CSV download, and the LedgerWire US national debt statistics page lists the key figures with dates.
How much has the US national debt increased since fiscal year 2027 began?
Total US public debt outstanding rose $421.8 billion in the first four weeks of fiscal year 2027, from $40.17 trillion on 30 September 2026 to a record $40.59 trillion on 29 October 2026, according to the Treasury's Debt to the Penny data. Measured to the same date, that is the fifth-largest start to a fiscal year since 1993.
Sources & context
- Debt to the Penny (U.S. Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service) ↗fiscaldata.treasury.gov
- Treasury Fiscal Data API: latest Debt to the Penny records ↗api.fiscaldata.treasury.gov
- LedgerWire US national debt tracker: daily Treasury figures since 2020 ↗ledgerwire.org
- LedgerWire US national debt statistics: key figures with dates ↗ledgerwire.org
- Daily total, public and intragovernmental debt, spreadsheet file ↗ledgerwire.org
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