Transparent sourcing, calculation, and presentation of federal budget data
All federal budget and spending data is sourced from USAspending.gov, the official open data source of federal spending information managed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
USAspending.gov aggregates data from the Financial Management System (FMS), Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS), and other authoritative federal sources mandated by the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act) of 2014.
To provide meaningful context, we translate budget figures into relatable units using data from authoritative statistical sources:
Median household income, average wages by occupation, consumer price indices
bls.govAverage health insurance premiums, out-of-pocket healthcare costs
kff.orgMedicare/Medicaid per-beneficiary costs, public health program expenditures
hhs.govAverage cost of public education, teacher salaries, school funding
nces.ed.govDepartment of Defense FY 2025 Budget Authority: $841,400,000,000
Source: USAspending.gov API, Function 051 (National Defense)
Average public school teacher salary: $66,397
Source: National Center for Education Statistics, 2023-24 school year
$841,400,000,000 ÷ $66,397 = 12,673,426 teacher-years
The Department of Defense budget of $841.4 billion could fund 12.7 million teacher salaries for one year—nearly 4x the total number of public school teachers in the U.S.
Note: This comparison illustrates scale, not policy recommendation. We do not suggest reallocating defense spending to education; rather, we use familiar units to make large numbers comprehensible.
Updated daily via automated sync with USAspending.gov API. New fiscal year data becomes available in October when appropriations are enacted.
Updated quarterly when source agencies publish new statistics. Most metrics reflect the most recent 12-month period available.
USAspending.gov provides reliable data from FY 2017 onward. Pre-2017 data may be incomplete due to DATA Act implementation timeline.
Last updated: 2024-01-15 08:30 UTC
We primarily display budget authority (legal permission to spend), not outlays (actual cash disbursed). Multi-year programs may show high authority in one year but spend over several years.
Mandatory spending (Social Security, Medicare, interest on debt) operates under permanent law and is not annually appropriated. Discretionary spending requires annual congressional appropriation. This dashboard shows both but does not imply equal flexibility in reallocation.
Unless explicitly noted, dollar figures are in nominal terms (not adjusted for inflation). Historical comparisons should account for CPI changes.
Federal agencies occasionally reorganize, and budget functions/subfunctions may be reclassified. We use the most current classification scheme, which may affect year-over-year comparisons.
Comparisons are illustrative and do not represent policy endorsements. A comparison showing “X could fund Y” does not imply substitutability or equivalence of value. Budget decisions involve complex trade-offs not captured by simple arithmetic.
While USAspending.gov is the most authoritative source, occasional reporting errors or delays may occur. We cross-reference with OMB and CBO publications where possible. Discrepancies are noted in context.
Some spending (e.g., Social Security, USPS operations) is technically “off-budget” but is included in unified budget reporting. We follow OMB conventions for consistency.
The federal budget operates in billions and trillions—numbers far beyond everyday experience. When the Department of Defense spends $841 billion, that figure is technically accurate but cognitively meaningless to most people. By translating spending into relatable units (teacher salaries, healthcare costs, median incomes), we bridge the gap between abstract accounting and lived reality.
Budget decisions reflect collective priorities and values. Citizens cannot meaningfully engage in democratic discourse about spending without understanding what those dollars represent in human terms. These comparisons lower the barrier to informed participation in debates about taxation, spending, and national priorities.
We are careful not to suggest that comparing defense spending to teacher salaries means we should “defund the military to hire teachers.” Budget trade-offs involve:
Our goal is comprehension, not prescription. We provide the numbers; you provide the values.
By making budget data accessible and interpretable, we support transparency efforts mandated by laws like the DATA Act. When spending is legible to the public, oversight becomes more effective. Journalists, researchers, and advocates can use this tool to ask sharper questions and hold institutions accountable.
This dashboard is intentionally neutral. We do not editorialize on whether spending is “too high” or “too low,” nor do we advocate for specific policy changes. Our role is to present data clearly and allow users to draw their own conclusions. Comparisons are selected for familiarity and relevance, not to advance a particular ideology.
We are committed to transparency and accuracy. If you have questions about our data sources, calculations, or methodology, please reach out.