Close Menu
    [OC] U.S. federal government expenditures per capita, inflation-adjusted, by year and major category
    Data

    [OC] U.S. federal government expenditures per capita, inflation-adjusted, by year and major category

    Share.
    View 7 Comments

    7 Comments

    1. JeromesNiece on

      Sources:

      * [Federal government current expenditures by function](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/release/tables?rid=53&eid=1228625&od=2023-01-01#), US Bureau of Economic Analysis via FRED
      * Data series used:
      * [Total federal current expenditures](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/AFEXPND)
      * [Interest payments](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/G160441A027NBEA)
      * [National defense](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/G160461A027NBEA)
      * [Health](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/G160661A027NBEA)
      * [Income security](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/G160721A027NBEA)
      * [Gross domestic product (implicit price deflator)](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A191RD3A086NBEA), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis via FRED
      * [Total Population: All Ages including Armed Forces Overseas](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/POP), U.S. Census Bureau via FRED

      Created via data wrapper. [Link](https://www.datawrapper.de/_/UZLvI/) to interactive version. Resubmitted after immediate and overwhelming feedback about the poor color selection last time, lol.

    2. GuyKid8 on

      It’s almost like these expenses are directly correlated to, and what causes inflation.

      Love the visual

    3. JeromesNiece on

      If you’re skeptical that these figures are adjusted for inflation, the inflation-unadjusted total spending per capita in 1959 was $509. Adjusted for inflation it is $4,072.

      This is using the GDP price deflator to adjust for inflation, so use caution if comparing to a CPI-based inflation calculator. GDP price deflator is a more appropriate price deflator in this context because the spending here includes a broader array of goods and services, and uses a chain-type price index which is more appropriate for long term data series.

    4. Interesting_Ad_8144 on

      “National defense”. Such funny words when used for a country known to fight wars wherever it pleases…

    6. nanooko on

      That’s a pretty big uptick in interest payments at the end. The government really needs to get the deficit under control if interest rates remain elevated.

    7. PrimeNumbersby2 on

      Looks like someone got a little excited around 2020. Schwing! AMIRITE?