When the U.S. government's 2025 fiscal year ended on 30 September 2025, its total public debt outstanding totaled $37,637,553,494,935.61. Or to say it more simply, 37.638 trillion dollars.

From the end of its 2024 fiscal year, the nation's national debt increased by $2.173 trillion, or by about 6.1%, from its 2024 fiscal year end total. Believe it or not, that's an improvement over the previous year, which had seen the nation's public debt rise by over $2.297 trillion, or 6.9%, from how big it was at the end of its 2023 fiscal year.

All of these are gigantic numbers. We can put them into a more human scale by dividing the U.S. national debt among the nation's estimated 134,800,000 households. Divided equally, each household would see $279,210 added on top of all their other debt.

That's just a little more than the asking price for a 940 square foot apartment with one bedroom and one bathroom in Staten Island, New York. Imagine if your household borrowed $279,210 to buy that property at that price in addition to paying for your current residence. Now imagine 134,800,000 other U.S. households borrowing $279,210 each to buy an identical property for the same price.

You would have to borrow that money from somewhere, and in the case of the U.S. government, it's a little more complicated than going to the local bank. To whom does the U.S. government owe $37.638 trillion?

The following chart provides a first estimate of who the U.S. government's biggest creditors are at the end of its 2025 fiscal year, along with the portion of the national debt they are owed.
 

It will be months before all the numbers for 2025 are finalized. This chart presents a first estimate of who owns the U.S. national debt, which should be within a few tenths of a percent for most of the major holders of debt securities issued by the U.S. government.
 

The Overall Picture

The U.S. Federal Reserve is once again the U.S. government's single largest creditor holding U.S. government-issued debt securities worth 11.2% of the U.S. government's entire total public debt outstanding. However, its share of the national debt is down from the 18.3% it held in 2022 and the 12.4% recorded last year as the Federal Reserve has continued reducing its holdings. In doing so, the Fed is still following the monetary policy of shrinking its balance sheet that it initiated in March 2022 when it began hiking interest rates to combat inflation unleashed by President Biden's policies.

In terms of total share, U.S. individuals and institutions such as banks, insurance companies, investment funds, corporations, and individuals collectively increased their share of the national debt from 48.8% in 2024 to 50.4% in 2025.

Social Security's share of the national debt plunged from 7.3% in 2023 to 6.4% in 2024. This decline coincides with the ongoing depletion of its Old Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund, which has run in the red in every year since 2009.

The combined share of the U.S. national debt held by the government's military (4.8%) and civilian (2.9%) employee retirement trust funds grew from 7.5% to 7.7% from FY 2024 to FY 2025.

Altogether, the portion of the U.S. national debt held by U.S. entities in 2024 is 75.7%, a small dip from the 76% in 2024.
 

Foreign Holdings

The portion of the U.S. total public debt outstanding held by foreign individuals and institutions is 24.3%, which is up from the 24.0% recorded a year earlier.

The share of the national debt held by Japan and China, the two largest foreign holders of U.S. government-issued debt securities, declined. Japan's share fell from 3.2% to 3.1% from 2024 to 2025. China and Hong Kong's combined share likewise dipped from 2.8% to 2.6%.

Other nations' institutions, which have individually lent the U.S. government much smaller amounts of money than those of Japan and China, have collectively increased their lending to the U.S. national government over the past year.
 

About the Data

The U.S. government's total public debt outstanding is the value recorded for 30 September 2025, the final day of the government's 2025 fiscal year, which also applies for the portion of the national debt held by the government-operated trust funds for Social Security, military and civilian government employees. Data for foreign holdings is based on estimates through July 2025 that was available on 17 October 2025. The Federal Reserve's holdings are those recorded on 24 September 2025.

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