US federal budgetPie chart
Federal budget pie chart, 2026
Out of every federal dollar spent in FY2025, 22¢ went to Social Security, 14¢ to Medicare and 14¢ to Health (Medicaid, ACA subsidies, public health, research).US federal outlays by budget function from the Treasury's Monthly Treasury Statement: $7.01 trillion spent and $5.23 trillion collected in FY2025.
FY2026 so far (October 2025 to August 2026)
FY2026 ended on 30 September; the September statement, usually published in mid-October, completes it.
Where federal money has gone in FY2026
Share of gross function outlays, fiscal year to date. Hover or tap a slice for the amount.
- Social Security: 22%
- Net interest on the debt: 15%
- Medicare: 14%
- Health (Medicaid, ACA subsidies, public health, research): 13%
- National Defense: 13%
- Income security (SNAP, SSI, tax credits, unemployment, federal pensions): 9%
- Veterans Benefits and Services: 6%
- Everything else: 9%
All functions as a table
| Function | Outlays | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Social Security | $1.53 trillion | 21.9% |
| Net interest on the debt | $1.02 trillion | 14.6% |
| Medicare | $979.3 billion | 14.1% |
| Health (Medicaid, ACA subsidies, public health, research) | $925.7 billion | 13.3% |
| National Defense | $876.2 billion | 12.6% |
| Income security (SNAP, SSI, tax credits, unemployment, federal pensions) | $645.2 billion | 9.3% |
| Veterans Benefits and Services | $395.6 billion | 5.7% |
| Transportation | $126.4 billion | 1.8% |
| Administration of Justice | $99.4 billion | 1.4% |
| Education, training, employment and social services | $92.0 billion | 1.3% |
| Community and Regional Development | $57.4 billion | 0.8% |
| Natural Resources and Environment | $51.9 billion | 0.7% |
| Agriculture | $51.0 billion | 0.7% |
| International Affairs | $44.9 billion | 0.6% |
| General Science, Space, and Technology | $36.2 billion | 0.5% |
| General Government | $24.8 billion | 0.4% |
| Energy | $18.4 billion | 0.3% |
U.S. Treasury, Monthly Treasury Statement, Table 9, through 2026-08-31.
FY2025, the last complete year
Where federal money went in FY2025
Share of gross function outlays. Hover or tap a slice for the amount.
- Social Security: 22%
- Medicare: 14%
- Health (Medicaid, ACA subsidies, public health, research): 14%
- Net interest on the debt: 13%
- National Defense: 13%
- Income security (SNAP, SSI, tax credits, unemployment, federal pensions): 10%
- Veterans Benefits and Services: 5%
- Everything else: 9%
All functions as a table
| Function | Outlays | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Social Security | $1.58 trillion | 22.0% |
| Medicare | $996.7 billion | 13.9% |
| Health (Medicaid, ACA subsidies, public health, research) | $978.9 billion | 13.6% |
| Net interest on the debt | $970.4 billion | 13.5% |
| National Defense | $916.6 billion | 12.8% |
| Income security (SNAP, SSI, tax credits, unemployment, federal pensions) | $701.6 billion | 9.8% |
| Veterans Benefits and Services | $377.2 billion | 5.2% |
| Transportation | $145.8 billion | 2.0% |
| Natural Resources and Environment | $88.3 billion | 1.2% |
| Administration of Justice | $85.2 billion | 1.2% |
| Community and Regional Development | $84.5 billion | 1.2% |
| Education, training, employment and social services | $69.2 billion | 1.0% |
| Agriculture | $49.3 billion | 0.7% |
| International Affairs | $45.2 billion | 0.6% |
| General Science, Space, and Technology | $42.1 billion | 0.6% |
| General Government | $36.3 billion | 0.5% |
| Energy | $20.9 billion | 0.3% |
U.S. Treasury, Monthly Treasury Statement, Table 9, September 2025 (year-end).
Each function's share, year by year
Share of gross function outlays. * = fiscal year to date. Select a function for its own page.
| Function | FY2015 | FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018 | FY2019 | FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 | FY2026* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Defense | 15% | 15% | 15% | 16% | 15% | 11% | 11% | 12% | 13% | 13% | 13% | 13% |
| Social Security | 23% | 23% | 23% | 23% | 23% | 16% | 16% | 19% | 22% | 21% | 22% | 22% |
| Medicare | 14% | 15% | 15% | 14% | 14% | 12% | 10% | 12% | 14% | 13% | 14% | 14% |
| Health (Medicaid, ACA subsidies, public health, research) | 13% | 13% | 13% | 12% | 13% | 11% | 11% | 14% | 14% | 13% | 14% | 13% |
| Net interest on the debt | 6% | 6% | 6% | 8% | 8% | 5% | 5% | 7% | 11% | 13% | 13% | 15% |
| Income security (SNAP, SSI, tax credits, unemployment, federal pensions) | 13% | 13% | 12% | 12% | 11% | 19% | 24% | 13% | 12% | 10% | 10% | 9% |
| Veterans Benefits and Services | 4% | 4% | 4% | 4% | 4% | 3% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 6% |
| Education, training, employment and social services | 3% | 3% | 3% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 4% | 10% | 0% | 4% | 1% | 1% |
| Transportation | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% |
| International Affairs | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| General Science, Space, and Technology | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Natural Resources and Environment | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Administration of Justice | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Agriculture | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
How to read it
The slices are the federal budget functions used by the Office of Management and Budget and the Treasury. Each share is that function's outlays divided by the sum of all functions with positive outlays; a few lines are negative because receipts such as federal employees' retirement contributions are netted against spending, and those are left out of the base, as on our tax calculator.
Federal taxes are not earmarked for particular functions, apart from payroll taxes that go to the Social Security and Medicare trust funds. In FY2025 receipts covered 75% of outlays and the rest was borrowed, so the pie shows how all federal spending divides, and your tax splits the same way. Enter your own tax to see it in dollars.
Questions and answers
- What does the federal budget pie chart look like for 2026?
- In FY2026 through August 2026 the largest slices were Social Security (22%), Net interest on the debt (15%), Medicare (14%), Health (Medicaid, ACA subsidies, public health, research) (13%), out of $6.81 trillion spent so far.
- What is the biggest part of the federal budget?
- Social Security, at 22% of FY2025 spending ($1.58 trillion).
- How much of the budget goes to the military?
- National defense was 12.8% of FY2025 spending: $916.6 billion.
- Is this the budget or actual spending?
- Actual spending (outlays) as recorded by the Treasury, not the President's budget request or the amounts Congress appropriated. Outlays are what was actually paid out in the fiscal year.
Sources and notes
- U.S. Department of the Treasury, Monthly Treasury Statement, Table 9 (receipts and outlays by budget function), Fiscal Data API. Public domain.