Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury
Surplus and Deficit can be tracked multiple ways. The Treasury Department offers the Daily Treasury Statement (DTS), Monthly Treasury Statement (MTS), Bureau of the Fiscal Service (including FiscalData), and USAspending to view details of the national finances. FiscalData offers a brief overview of federal spending and up-to-date spending. There is also The Federal Budget Process from USA.gov, a division of the General Services Administration.
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE and OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
The CBO is a non-partisan agency that provides “independent analyses of budgetary and economic issues to support the Congressional budget process” to Congress while the OMB is a similar agency providing support to the White House.
FRED offers a Quick Guide to Understanding the Federal Budget, Federal Surplus or Deficit (FYFSD), and Federal Surplus or Deficit as Percent of Gross Domestic Product (FYFSGDA188S) to quickly view graphs of historical surpluses/deficits using the OMB historical tables as a source. We cannot supply a link to the OMB or it’s data as it has disappeared under the Trump administration as of 01-24-2025.
Surplus and Deficit differ from Debt
Surplus and Deficit refer to yearly spending above and below yearly revenue.
Debt is the accumulative total of money as it is spent which may or may not be in the same time period as it was appropriated. Debt can even increase with a surplus as money is spent from previous budgets and interest on past debt continues to accrue.
Deficit in yellow (Surplus when above the red/blue background)
Deficit as a percentage of GDP in black (Surplus when above the red/blue background)
On a different scale:
Smaller black cubes are GDP
Debt in white
Surplus and Deficit by President (Fiscal Year) in $Millions:
| PRESIDENT | SURPLUS or DEFICIT | YEARLY CHANGE | % CHANGE |
|---|---|---|---|
| -47,553 | |||
| Truman | -15,936 | 31,617 | 66.49% |
| 4,018 | 19,954 | 125.21% | |
| 11,796 | 7,778 | 193.58% | |
| 580 | -11,216 | -95.08% | |
| -3,119 | -3,699 | -637.76% | |
| 6,102 | 9,221 | 295.64% | |
| -1,519 | -7,621 | -124.89% | |
| -6,493 | -4,974 | -327.45% | |
| Eisenhower | -1,154 | 5,339 | 82.23% |
| -2,993 | -1,839 | -159.36% | |
| 3,947 | 6,940 | 231.87% | |
| 3,412 | -535 | -13.55% | |
| -2,769 | -6,181 | -181.15% | |
| -12,849 | -10,080 | -364.03% | |
| 301 | 13,150 | 102.34% | |
| -3,335 | -3,636 | -1,207.97% | |
| Kennedy | -7,146 | -3,811 | -114.27% |
| -4,756 | 2,390 | 33.45% | |
| -5,915 | -1,159 | -24.37% | |
| Johnson | -1,411 | 4,504 | 76.15% |
| -3,698 | -2,287 | -162.08% | |
| -8,643 | -4,945 | -133.72% | |
| -25,161 | -16,518 | -191.11% | |
| 3,242 | 28,403 | 112.89% | |
| Nixon | -2,842 | -6,084 | -187.66% |
| -23,033 | -20,191 | -710.45% | |
| -23,373 | -340 | -1.48% | |
| -14,908 | 8,465 | 36.22% | |
| -6,135 | 8,773 | 58.85% | |
| -53,242 | -47,107 | -767.84% | |
| Ford | -73,732 | -20,490 | -38.48% |
| -53,659 | 20,073 | 27.22% | |
| Carter | -59,185 | -5,526 | -10.30% |
| -40,726 | 18,459 | 31.19% | |
| -73,830 | -33,104 | -81.28% | |
| -78,968 | -5,138 | -6.96% | |
| Reagan | -127,977 | -49,009 | -62.06% |
| -207,802 | -79,825 | -62.37% | |
| -185,367 | 22,435 | 10.80% | |
| -212,308 | -26,941 | -14.53% | |
| -221,227 | -8,919 | -4.20% | |
| -149,730 | 71,497 | 32.32% | |
| -155,178 | -5,448 | -3.64% | |
| -152,639 | 2,539 | 1.64% | |
| H.W. Bush | -221,036 | -68,397 | -44.81% |
| -269,238 | -48,202 | -21.81% | |
| -290,321 | -21,083 | -7.83% | |
| -255,051 | 35,270 | 12.15% | |
| Clinton | -203,186 | 51,865 | 20.34% |
| -163,952 | 39,234 | 19.31% | |
| -107,431 | 56,521 | 34.47% | |
| -21,884 | 85,547 | 79.63% | |
| 69,270 | 91,154 | 416.53% | |
| 125,610 | 56,340 | 81.33% | |
| 236,241 | 110,631 | 88.07% | |
| 128,236 | -108,005 | -45.72% | |
| W. Bush | -157,758 | -285,994 | -223.02% |
| -377,585 | -219,827 | -139.34% | |
| -412,727 | -35,142 | -9.31% | |
| -318,346 | 94,381 | 22.87% | |
| -248,181 | 70,165 | 22.04% | |
| -160,701 | 87,480 | 35.25% | |
| -458,553 | -297,852 | -185.35% | |
| -1,412,688 | -954,135 | -208.08% | |
| Obama | -1,294,373 | 118,315 | 8.38% |
| -1,299,599 | -5,226 | -0.40% | |
| -1,076,573 | 223,026 | 17.16% | |
| -679,775 | 396,798 | 36.86% | |
| -484,793 | 194,982 | 28.68% | |
| -441,960 | 42,833 | 8.84% | |
| -584,650 | -142,690 | -32.29% | |
| -665,450 | -80,800 | -13.82% | |
| Trump | -779,074 | -113,624 | -17.07% |
| -983,588 | -204,514 | -26.25% | |
| -3,132,456 | -2,148,868 | -218.47% | |
| -2,775,350 | 357,106 | 11.40% | |
| Biden | -1,375,920 | 1,399,430 | 50.42% |
| -1,695,240 | -319,320 | -23.21% | |
| -1,832,816 | -137,576 | -8.12% | |
Get your OutVote Stupid gear here!
Don’t be fooled…
It’s a tricky thing to compare negatives and positives together. A reduced deficit is a positive situation, but a deficit nonetheless.
A reduced surplus is still a surplus, but a reduction nonetheless.
That being said the Democrat/Republican comparison of percentage change stands at:
Democrats -5.34%
Republicans -104.82%
The monetary comparison stands at:
Democrats $2,095,387 million surplus
Republicans -$3,880,650 million deficit
This means that Democrats have reduced yearly deficits or increased surpluses by an accumulative total of $2,095,387 million while Republicans have increased yearly deficits or reduced surpluses by an accumulative total of $3,880,650 million.
President Eisenhower is the first, last and only Republican President in 80 years to leave the U.S. in a better financial position than he inherited.
Average Deficit as a percentage of GDP by President:
No President in this time averaged a surplus.
| Truman | -0.2808 |
| Eisenhower | -0.3721 |
| Kennedy | -0.9312 |
| Johnson | -0.8012 |
| Nixon | -1.4454 |
| Ford | -3.2566 |
| Carter | -2.2783 |
| Reagan | -4.0766 |
| H.W. Bush | -4.0625 |
| Clinton | -0.1169 |
| W. Bush | -3.291 |
| Obama | -4.9067 |
| Trump | -8.6817 |
| Biden | -5.8958 |