Total US federal debt outstanding reached $40.41 trillion on Oct. 21, with debt held by the public accounting for most of the total, the Treasury Department said.
The total rose $301.5 billion, or 0.8%, from Sept. 21. It increased $2.39 trillion, or 6.3%, from Oct. 21, 2025, the department said.
Debt held by the public stood at $32.57 trillion on the October record date. Intragovernmental holdings accounted for another $7.85 trillion of the reported federal debt.
Accrued interest expense totaled $63.1 billion in September, the latest month supplied, according to the Treasury Department. The fiscal year-to-date total reached $800 billion for fiscal 2026.
The debt and interest figures cover different periods. The outstanding debt balance was recorded on Oct. 21, while the latest interest figures cover the month through Sept. 30.
Treasury notes accounted for the largest interest expense among the listed categories in both periods. Interest on notes totaled $43.5 billion in September and $498.3 billion for fiscal 2026.
Treasury bonds were the second-largest listed category for both the month and the fiscal year. They accounted for $15.3 billion in September interest and $178.2 billion for the fiscal year.
Inflation compensation on Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, known as TIPS, was the third-largest listed interest category for the fiscal year. It totaled $69.7 billion over that period.
For September alone, the inflation compensation category recorded negative interest expense of $452 million. That was the only negative monthly amount among the interest categories supplied.
The separate interest category for inflation-protected securities recorded $2.1 billion for September. Its fiscal year-to-date expense totaled $24.4 billion, below the annual amount for inflation compensation.
Treasury floating rate notes accounted for $2.3 billion in September interest expense. Their fiscal year-to-date total was $26.7 billion, placing them above the separate inflation-protected securities category for both periods.
State and local government certificates of indebtedness, notes and bonds accounted for $218.9 million in September interest. Their fiscal year-to-date expense totaled $2.7 billion.
That state and local government category had the smallest positive expense among the categories listed for September. It also had the smallest fiscal year-to-date expense among those categories.
The September figures put notes first, bonds second and floating rate notes third among the listed monthly interest expenses. The fiscal-year figures put inflation compensation behind notes and bonds.
