CongressFY2025 and FY2026 to date
How much does Congress cost?
$7.2 billion in fiscal year 2025: 0.10% of all federal spending.That is about $21 per US resident, or $44 per individual tax return. In FY2026 through August 2026 it spent $6.5 billion, up 1% on the same months of FY2025 ($6.4 billion). Treasury figures for the legislative branch.
By year
Congress (the legislative branch): $4.3 billion in FY2015, $7.2 billion in FY2025
Net outlays by fiscal year (October to September), nominal dollars · FY2026* = to August 2026
Every year as a table, with the share of federal outlays
| Fiscal year | Net outlays | Share of federal outlays |
|---|---|---|
| FY2026 to Aug '26 | $6.5 billion | 0.10% |
| FY2025 | $7.2 billion | 0.10% |
| FY2024 | $6.8 billion | 0.10% |
| FY2023 | $6.5 billion | 0.11% |
| FY2022 | $5.8 billion | 0.09% |
| FY2021 | $5.3 billion | 0.08% |
| FY2020 | $5.4 billion | 0.08% |
| FY2019 | $5.0 billion | 0.11% |
| FY2018 | $4.7 billion | 0.11% |
| FY2017 | $4.5 billion | 0.11% |
| FY2016 | $4.3 billion | 0.11% |
| FY2015 | $4.3 billion | 0.12% |
U.S. Treasury, Monthly Treasury Statement, Table 5.
By month
Largest month: November 2025, $840.0 million
Net outlays in each month. Large one-month amounts are usually lump-sum transfers or accounting adjustments.
Monthly figures as a table
| Month | Outlays in the month | Fiscal year to date |
|---|---|---|
| August 2026 | $634.4 million | $6.5 billion |
| July 2026 | $590.7 million | $5.8 billion |
| June 2026 | $602.5 million | $5.2 billion |
| May 2026 | $556.0 million | $4.6 billion |
| April 2026 | $548.3 million | $4.1 billion |
| March 2026 | $665.3 million | $3.5 billion |
| February 2026 | $567.9 million | $2.9 billion |
| January 2026 | $604.6 million | $2.3 billion |
| December 2025 | $550.8 million | $1.7 billion |
| November 2025 | $840.0 million | $1.2 billion |
| October 2025 | $310.9 million | $310.9 million |
| September 2025 | $813.1 million | $7.2 billion |
| August 2025 | $514.4 million | $6.4 billion |
| July 2025 | $594.0 million | $5.9 billion |
| June 2025 | $556.5 million | $5.3 billion |
| May 2025 | $545.8 million | $4.8 billion |
| April 2025 | $526.0 million | $4.2 billion |
| March 2025 | $702.1 million | $3.7 billion |
| February 2025 | $598.8 million | $3.0 billion |
| January 2025 | $603.7 million | $2.4 billion |
| December 2024 | $520.4 million | $1.8 billion |
| November 2024 | $625.1 million | $1.3 billion |
| October 2024 | $633.0 million | $633.0 million |
| September 2024 | $681.6 million | $6.8 billion |
U.S. Treasury, Monthly Treasury Statement, Table 5.
What members of Congress are paid
Congressional Research Service, Salaries of Members of Congress, updated May 6, 2026.
A senator or representative is paid $174,000 a year, unchanged since January 2009: Congress has voted to freeze its own pay adjustment every year since. The 535 voting members' base salaries add up to about $93.1 million a year, 1.3% of the legislative branch's FY2025 outlays. Most of the cost of Congress is staff, offices, the Capitol Police and the support agencies in the table above.
| Position | Annual salary |
|---|---|
| Senators and representatives | $174,000 |
| Majority and minority leaders, President pro tempore | $193,400 |
| Speaker of the House | $223,500 |
The House, the Senate and the rest of Congress
Net outlays from the same Treasury table.
| Account | FY2015 | FY2025 | FY2026 so far |
|---|---|---|---|
| House of Representatives | $1.2B | $2.0B | $1.8B |
| Senate | $854.1M | $1.3B | $1.2B |
| Capitol Police | $342.7M | $811.8M | $764.6M |
| Architect of the Capitol | $533.4M | $952.5M | $826.1M |
| Library of Congress | $592.7M | $935.0M | $823.6M |
| GAO | $521.2M | $874.1M | $773.9M |
| CBO | $46.1M | $71.6M | $66.6M |
| All of the legislative branch | $4.3B | $7.2B | $6.5B |
On your tax bill
Federal spending is paid for by all taxes and borrowing together, so each dollar of federal income tax is split in proportion to spending. Congress (the legislative branch) took 0.10% of it in FY2025.
| Income | Income tax | To Congress (the legislative branch) |
|---|---|---|
| $40,000 | $2,620 | $2.70 |
| $60,000 | $5,020 | $5.18 |
| $75,000 | $7,670 | $7.91 |
| $100,000 | $13,170 | $13.59 |
| $150,000 | $24,734 | $25.52 |
What this counts
Net outlays of the legislative branch: the House of Representatives and the Senate (members' pay, staff, offices), the Capitol Police, the Architect of the Capitol, the Library of Congress, the Government Accountability Office, the Congressional Budget Office and the Government Publishing Office.
Figures are net outlays: payments made, minus any offsetting collections credited to the same accounts, as printed in the Monthly Treasury Statement. They are not adjusted for inflation.
Questions and answers
- How much does the US spend on Congress (the legislative branch) a year?
- $7.2 billion in fiscal year 2025 (October 2024 to September 2025), in net outlays recorded by the Treasury for the legislative branch. In FY2024 it was $6.8 billion.
- What share of the federal budget goes to Congress (the legislative branch)?
- 0.10% of all federal outlays in FY2025 ($7.2 billion of $7.01 trillion): about $1 of every $1,000 the government spent.
- How much are members of Congress paid?
- $174,000 a year for senators and representatives, unchanged since January 2009. The Speaker is paid $223,500 and the party leaders $193,400 (Congressional Research Service).
- How much is that per person?
- About $21 per US resident in FY2025, or $19.8 million a day.
- How much does Congress (the legislative branch) cost per taxpayer?
- About $44 per individual income tax return: $7.2 billion divided by the 162.8 million individual returns the IRS received in FY2025. Federal spending is paid for by all taxes and borrowing together, so this is an average, not what any one taxpayer pays; your tax receipt shows your own share.
- How much has been spent on Congress (the legislative branch) in 2026?
- In FY2026 through August 2026 it spent $6.5 billion, up 1% on the same months of FY2025 ($6.4 billion). Fiscal year 2026 ended on 30 September 2026; the September statement, published in mid-October, completes it.
- Has spending on Congress (the legislative branch) gone up?
- From $4.3 billion in FY2015 to $7.2 billion in FY2025, +67% in nominal dollars.
- Is this the budget or actual spending?
- Actual spending: outlays are what the Treasury paid out in each fiscal year. The budget Congress passes sets budget authority (what an agency may commit), which can be spent over several years, so appropriations in the news can differ from these figures.
Related
- Internal Revenue Serviceby year
- Smithsonian Institutionby year
- Public broadcastingby year
- National Endowment for the Artsby year
- Every federal program62 programs
- Your federal tax receiptcalculator
Sources and notes
- U.S. Department of the Treasury, Monthly Treasury Statement, Table 5: Outlays of the U.S. Government, line "Legislative Branch", every month from March 2015 to 2026-08-31, Fiscal Data API. Public domain.
- Per tax return: 162,754,810 individual income tax returns filed in FY2025, IRS Data Book Table 1-2.
- Member pay: Congressional Research Service, Salaries of Members of Congress (97-1011), updated May 6, 2026.
- Population: U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 estimates, 50 states and DC.
- Tax on your bill: 2026 IRS brackets and standard deduction (Rev. Proc. 2025-32 as amended), as in our calculator.