Ownership of U.S. National Debt

Total Public Debt Outstanding on September 30, 2025 was $37.6 Trillion.

Total Public Debt Outstanding is divided into two sub categories: 1) Intragovernmental Debt, and 2) Debt Held by the Public. It should be noted the government, media and may 501’s use Debt Held by the Public, an amount lower than Total Public Debt Outstanding, when quoting certain economic ratios. This results in making the debt amount and ratios lower.

Intragovernmental Debt – $7.3 Trillion or 19% of Total Public Debt Outstanding at September 30. This debt is incurred when the government’s General Account borrows from Trusts and other earmarked Funds to pay for current, day-to-day, government operations. The Trust Funds include Social Security, Medicare, Federal Employees and Military pensions and benefits, and other funds.

Using Social Security and Medicare as examples, after this money is deducted from taxpayers’ paychecks it is deposited into what many believe are “Trust Funds.” They are not Trust Funds in the legal sense of the word, rather they are just general ledge accounts. The General Account then borrows the excess cash in exchange for a government debt security. The “Trust Funds” now hold U.S. Government Debt. The “Trust Fund” cash is transferred to the General Account and is used to pay current, day-today, government expenses. There is no securitization of assets or earmarked revenues to pay back the Trust Fund monewy. It is only backed by the “full faith and credit of the United States” – also known as US, the taxpayers.

Debt Held by the Public – $30.3 Trillion or 80% of Total Public Debt Outstanding at September 30. This debt is incurred when the government General Account borrows from a variety of Domestic and Foreign sources, including the Federal Reserve, to pay for current, day-to-day, government operations.

U.S.– this category includes money borrowed from both U.S. based accounts, individuals and corporations and others representing retirement and non-retirement funds. It also includes money received from the Federal Reserve (the U.S. central bank) when it authorizes the printing of money to expand the money supply. This new cash is given to the government for operations in exchange for Treasury Debt Securities.

Foreign– this category includes money borrowed from individuals, corporations, and governments of many countries. Foreigners are attracted to U.S. Treasury Debt due to the U.S.’s high credit rating, relatively stable currency and history of repayment. Despite scares that China holds large amounts of U.S. debt they will sell, due to cross holdings and China’s interest in keeping U.S. currency high for balance of trade reasons, it is unlikely they will sell all of their holdings at once. It should be noted that China has been significantly reducing its U.S. debt holdings over the past few year, when the held more than $1.1 trillion.

Ownership of U.S. National Debt
Approximate (in $Billions)
September 30, 2025