Total US federal debt outstanding stood at $40.44 trillion on Oct. 20, an increase from both a month and a year earlier, the Department of the Treasury said.
The total rose $327.4 billion, or 0.8%, from Sept. 21, the department said. It increased $2.46 trillion, or 6.5%, from Oct. 20, 2025, putting the dollar change over the year above $2 trillion.
Debt held by the public accounted for $32.57 trillion of the outstanding total, the department said. The remaining $7.87 trillion consisted of intragovernmental holdings, debt that federal government accounts hold.
The public portion was more than four times the amount held within the government. Together, the two categories made up the $40.44 trillion recorded on Oct. 20, with the public portion accounting for most of the balance.
Treasury accrued $63.1 billion in interest expense in September, the latest month supplied, the department said. Accrued interest is interest recorded as an expense, rather than necessarily paid that month.
The department put accrued interest expense for fiscal 2026 through Sept. 30 at $800 billion. That fiscal-year figure and the September expense cover an earlier period than the outstanding debt balance recorded in October.
Treasury notes carried the largest interest expense among the listed categories in both periods. The department recorded $43.5 billion for notes in September and $498.3 billion for fiscal 2026 through that month.
Treasury bonds ranked second among the listed categories, with September interest expense of $15.3 billion and fiscal-year expense of $178.2 billion, the department said. Notes and bonds together accounted for most of the expense in each period.
The inflation compensation category for Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities had a negative September entry of $452 million, the department said. Its fiscal-year expense was positive at $69.7 billion, the third-largest fiscal-year amount among the categories supplied.
Treasury floating rate notes generated $2.3 billion in interest expense in September, the department said. Expense for those securities reached $26.7 billion for fiscal 2026 through Sept. 30.
A separate category for inflation-protected securities recorded September interest expense of $2.1 billion and fiscal-year expense of $24.4 billion, the department said. Those amounts were separate from the inflation compensation entries.
The category covering state and local government certificates of indebtedness, notes and bonds recorded $218.9 million in September interest expense, the department said. Its fiscal-year expense was $2.7 billion, the smallest fiscal-year amount among the categories supplied.
