We just pushed a major data update across the entire site. Every department budget, every comparison unit, and several new data categories. This post documents exactly what changed and where the numbers come from.
Federal Budget: Updated to FY2026
Our budget data was running on FY2025 figures. All 12 FY2026 appropriations bills are now enacted, and the CBO's February 2026 Budget and Economic Outlook gives us updated mandatory spending projections. Here's what moved:
Department Budgets
| Department | FY2025 | FY2026 | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Defense | $895B | $839.2B | -6.2% | Senate Appropriations |
| Health & Human Services | $1.802T | $1.87T | +3.8% | CBO Feb 2026 Outlook |
| Social Security | $1.5T | $1.55T | +3.3% | CBO Feb 2026 Outlook |
| Treasury / Net Interest | $1.05T | $1.0T | -4.8% | CBO Feb 2026 Outlook |
| Veterans Affairs | $323B | $446B | +38.1% | MilCon-VA Appropriations Act |
| Housing & Urban Dev | $70B | $77.3B | +10.4% | THUD Appropriations |
| Education | $35B | $79B | +125.7% | LHHS Appropriations |
| NASA | $25B | $24.4B | -2.4% | CJS Appropriations (P.L. 119-74) |
| EPA | $10B | $8.8B | -12.0% | Interior-Environment (P.L. 119-74) |
| Energy | $52B | $49B | -5.8% | Energy-Water (P.L. 119-74) |
| Justice | $40B | $37.1B | -7.3% | CJS Appropriations (P.L. 119-74) |
Notable: Congress rejected the White House's proposed 22.6% cut to non-defense discretionary spending. NIH landed at $47.5 billion, 70% above the President's request. The proposed elimination of the Department of Education did not happen.
The Big Picture (CBO Projections)
- Total federal spending: $7.4 trillion (23.3% of GDP)
- Total revenue: $5.6 trillion (17.5% of GDP)
- Deficit: $1.9 trillion (5.8% of GDP)
- Debt held by public: 101% of GDP, projected to reach 120% by 2036
- Net interest on debt: ~$1 trillion, now exceeding the entire defense budget
Source: CBO Budget and Economic Outlook: 2026 to 2036, CRFB Summary
New: ICE and Immigration Enforcement Data
We added a new category of comparison units covering immigration enforcement costs. These numbers matter because the administration has proposed expanding ICE detention from 34,000 beds to 100,000-150,000.
Detention Costs
| What | Cost | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Adult detention (per day) | $155 | DHS ICE Budget Congressional Justification; GAO-25-107056 |
| Family detention (per day) | $350 | DHS OIG-23-07 |
| Alternative to detention (per day) | $4.36 | DHS OIG-22-58 |
| Deportation (total all-in cost) | $14,000 | American Immigration Council; Cato Institute |
| Charter deportation flight | $110,000 | USAspending.gov ICE Air contracts |
| C-17 military deportation flight | $1,750,000 | Pentagon flight-hour cost data |
The detention vs. alternatives comparison is striking: GPS monitoring with check-ins costs $4.36/day and achieves 86-99% court appearance rates. Full detention costs 35x more. At the proposed scale of 100,000+ beds, that's a difference of roughly $5 billion per year.
Facility Data Sources
For researchers and journalists, the best sources for ICE facility data:
- TRAC Immigration (Syracuse University): trac.syr.edu/immigration/detention/ -- facility-level data with populations
- ICE Detainee Locator: locator.ice.gov -- active facilities with addresses
- Detention Watch Network: detentionwatchnetwork.org -- interactive facility map
- USAspending.gov: Search GEO Group, CoreCivic, LaSalle Corrections contracts
Updated Comparison Units
We updated several comparison units that were running on 2024 data. Every comparison on the site now uses these refreshed figures:
| Unit | Old Value | New Value | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teacher salary | $68,000 | $74,000 | NEA Educator Pay Data 2025 |
| Median home price | $420,000 | $407,000 | FRED Median Sales Price; NAR |
| Public college tuition | $10,500 | $11,950 | College Board Trends 2025 |
| School lunch/child/year | $1,000 | $1,100 | USDA FNS SY 2025-26 |
| VA healthcare/veteran/year | $15,000 | $16,500 | VA FY2025 Medical Care Budget ($112.6B / 6.8M veterans) |
| Fire truck | $500,000 | $650,000 | Bradford Fire Apparatus / FirefighterNow 2025 |
| Social Security/year | $22,800 | $24,900 | SSA (2.5% COLA, $2,079/month) |
| SNAP/person/year | $2,400 | $2,256 | USDA SNAP FY2026 COLA |
New Comparison Units Added
- Doctor salary: $374,000 (Medscape 2025)
- Hospital bed construction: $1,000,000 (RSMeans 2025 Hospital Construction Guide)
- Police car (fully equipped): $75,000 (Government Fleet 2025)
- ICE detention/day: $155 (DHS Congressional Budget Justification)
- Deportation (all-in): $14,000 (American Immigration Council)
- C-17 deportation flight: $1,750,000 (Pentagon cost data)
Social Security Update
The 2024 OASDI Trustees Report projects the combined trust fund depletes in 2035 (OASI alone: 2033). After depletion, incoming payroll taxes cover ~83% of scheduled benefits.
Key numbers:
- 68-69 million beneficiaries
- 2.5% COLA for 2025 (average benefit now $2,079/month)
- $176,100 taxable earnings cap for 2025
- The Social Security Fairness Act (signed Jan 2025) repealed WEP/GPO, increasing benefits for ~2.8 million public-sector retirees at a projected 10-year cost of $196 billion
Iran War Cost Tracker
The Iran war cost calculator continues running with the CSIS-sourced methodology documented in our previous coverage. Key data sources for ongoing tracking:
- Brown University Costs of War Project: costsofwar.watson.brown.edu
- CSIS Analysis ($3.7B first 100 hours): csis.org
- National Priorities Project: nationalpriorities.org
- DoD Casualty Reports: defense.gov
- EIA Energy Outlook (oil price tracking): eia.gov/outlooks/steo/
Methodology Note
All budget figures combine discretionary and mandatory spending where applicable (matching how Americans actually experience government spending). Department-level amounts are the total federal outlay, not just the discretionary appropriation. Comparison unit costs use the most recent available national averages from federal statistical agencies (BLS, Census, CMS, USDA) or the most credible available source.
When a figure comes from an agency budget justification rather than an independent audit, we note that. Government self-reported data has known limitations, particularly around ICE detention costs where the GAO has found that official per-day rates often exclude transportation, legal processing, and medical overhead.
Have a correction or a better source? Let us know.