Total US federal debt outstanding stood at $40.61 trillion on Nov. 12, with the balance higher than both a month and a year earlier, the Treasury Department said.
The balance rose $264.6 billion, or 0.7%, from Oct. 13. It increased $2.49 trillion, or 6.5%, from Nov. 12, 2025, providing comparisons over about one month and one year.
Debt held by the public accounted for $32.82 trillion of the total, while intragovernmental holdings, debt held within the federal government, accounted for $7.78 trillion, the department said.
The two holdings figures describe the split in outstanding debt on Nov. 12. The month and year comparisons apply to the total balance, rather than either of those holdings categories separately.
The department also recorded $73.45 billion in accrued interest expense for October, the latest available month. Accrued expense measures interest accumulated during the period, rather than the outstanding amount of debt itself.
October's interest expense also brought the fiscal year-to-date total to $73.45 billion for fiscal 2027. The monthly and cumulative figures cover the same period because October is the fiscal year's first month.
Treasury notes generated the largest interest expense among the listed categories, at $45.77 billion in October. That amount also represented the category's total for fiscal 2027 through the end of the month.
Treasury bonds followed with $15.96 billion in accrued interest for October and the same amount for the fiscal year to date. Notes and bonds were the two largest categories listed.
Inflation compensation on Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, known as TIPS, accounted for another $6.38 billion in October. The fiscal year-to-date amount for that category was also $6.38 billion.
Treasury floating rate notes accounted for $2.58 billion in monthly accrued interest expense. Their cumulative expense for fiscal 2027 matched the October amount, as it did for the other listed categories.
A separate category for inflation-protected securities recorded $2.54 billion in interest expense for October and fiscal 2027 to date. That figure was separate from the amount recorded under inflation compensation.
State and local government certificates of indebtedness, notes and bonds accounted for $227.1 million in October interest expense. Their fiscal year-to-date expense was also $227.1 million, the smallest amount among the categories listed.
The debt balance and interest expenses have different reference dates: Nov. 12 for outstanding debt and Oct. 31 for the latest monthly interest figures.