What's the best way to determine how much each president has contributed to our nation's trillions of dollars of U.S. debt? The most popular ways to measure involve comparing the debt level from when a president enters office to the debt level when they leave. It's also good to compare the debt as a percentage of economic output, which takes into account the size of the economy at the time the administration accumulated the debt.
Key Takeaways
- During the first part of a president's term, they operate under the previous president's budget.
- The best way to measure debt by president is to add their budget deficits and compare it to the debt level when they took office.
- Five presidents who contributed the most, percentage-wise, to the national debt are Franklin D. Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.
Drawback of Measuring Debt by President
Neither of the techniques mentioned above is a very accurate way to measure each president's impact on the national debt because the president doesn't have much control over the national debt during their first year in office.
For example, President Donald Trump took office in January 2017. He submitted his first budget in May. It covered the 2018 fiscal year, which didn't begin until October 1, 2017. Trump operated the first part of his term under President Barack Obama's budget for fiscal year 2017, which ended on Sept. 30, 2017.
While the time lag may make it seem confusing, Congress intentionally sets it up this way. An advantage of the federal fiscal year is that it gives the new president time to put together their budget during their first months in office.
The Best Way to Measure Debt by President
The best way to measure a president's debt is to add up their budget deficits and compare that total to the debt level when they took office. A president's budget reveals their administration's priorities.
Note
Though they sound similar, deficit and debt are two different things. A deficit is a budget shortfall, whereas debt is the running total of all deficits and surpluses. Deficits add to the debt, while surpluses reduce it.
Top 5 Presidents Who Contributed to the Debt by Percentage
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945)
President Roosevelt added the largest percentage increase to the national debt. Although he only added $236 billion, this was an increase of about 1,048% from the $22.5 billion debt level left by President Herbert Hoover before him. The Great Depression and the New Deal contributed to FDR's yearly deficits, but the biggest cost was World War II—it added $186.3 billion to the debt between 1942 and 1945.
Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)
President Wilson was the second-largest contributor to the debt, percentage-wise. He added about $21 billion, which was a 723% increase over the $2.9 billion debt of his predecessor. World War I contributed to the deficits that raised the national debt.
Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)
President Reagan increased the debt by $1.86 trillion, or by 186%. Reagan's supply-side economics didn't grow the economy enough to offset the lost revenue from its tax cuts. Reagan also increased the defense budget by 35%.
George W. Bush (2001-2009)
President Bush added $5.85 trillion to the national debt. That's a 101% increase, putting him in fourth. Bush launched the War on Terror in response to the 9/11 attacks, which led to multi-trillion-dollar spending on the War in Afghanistan and the War in Iraq. Bush also dealt with the 2001 recession and the 2008 financial crisis.
Barack Obama (2009-2017)
Under President Obama, the national debt grew the most in dollar terms ($8.6 trillion) and was fifth by percentage at 74%. Obama fought the Great Recession with an $831 billion economic stimulus package and added $858 billion through tax cuts. Even though the fiscal year 2009 budget was set by President Bush, Obama added to it with the Economic Stimulus Act in 2009.
US Debt Increase by President Per Fiscal Year
The U.S. Treasury Department has historical tables that report the annual U.S. debt for each fiscal year (FY) since 1790. We've compiled data from that source to create the figures used below.
Joe Biden
In January 2023, the nation hit the $31.4 trillion debt limit Congress passed in 2021. Republican lawmakers in control of the House of Representatives said they won’t raise the debt limit unless Democrats, who control the Senate, agree to budget cuts.
On Oct. 1, 2021, at the end of fiscal year 2021, the national debt was $28.4 trillion. Between the end of fiscal year 2020 and the end of fiscal year 2021, the national debt grew $1.5 trillion, a 5.6% increase year over year. For fiscal year 2022, President Joe Biden's budget included a deficit of $1.84 trillion, and by August 2022, the national debt had grown to $30.8 trillion.
When Biden took office, the economy and household finances were still reeling from the pandemic, and Biden continued his predecessor’s policy of spending heavily to keep households afloat. In March 2021, Biden signed the American Rescue Plan, which showered taxpayers with pandemic relief cash in the form of stimulus checks and extra unemployment payments, and temporarily expanded child tax credits, plus other help. It all came with a cost to future budgets: The bill would add $1.9 trillion to the national debt by 2031, the Congressional Budget Office estimated.
The bipartisan infrastructure bill, signed by Biden in November 2021, provided new funding for highways, railways, broadband Internet expansion and other projects. It added to the debt too, with estimates on its 10-year impact ranging from $374 billion to $400 billion, depending on how it’s calculated.
Some of Biden’s actions cut the other way. In August 2022, Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, an anti-climate change bill that spent money on new green energy programs and tax credits as well as to make drugs cheaper for patients, and paid for it by raising taxes on corporations and the ultra-wealthy. The bill should reduce the national debt by $102 billion by 2031, the CBO estimated.
Biden followed up this bill with an executive action that forgave up to $10,000 of federal student loan debt per borrower, and $20,000 for those who received Pell Grants. He also proposed a new, cheaper income-driven student loan repayment program for future borrowers. However, he also announced that student loan interest and required payments, both of which had been frozen since the pandemic hit, would resume in 2023. As of April 2023, repayments have not yet resumed.
In August 2022, the government did not have an official estimate of how these measures would impact the national debt. One piece of it—forgiving $10,000 of debt per student loan borrower—would cost $329.7 billion over 10 years, according to an estimate by the Wharton School of Business.
Donald Trump
At the end of fiscal year 2020, the debt was $26.9 trillion. Trump added $6.7 trillion to the debt between fiscal year 2017 and fiscal year 2020, a 33.1% increase, largely due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and 2020 recession.
In his FY 2021 budget, Trump's budget included a $966 billion deficit. However, the national debt actually grew by $1.5 trillion between October 1, 2020, and October 1, 2021.
- FY 2021: $1.5 trillion
- FY 2020: $4.2 trillion
- FY 2019: $1.2 trillion
- FY 2018: $1.3 trillion
Barack Obama
President Obama added about $8.6 trillion, about a 74% increase, to the national debt at the end of President Bush’s last budget in 2009.
- FY 2017: $671 billion
- FY 2016: $1.42 trillion
- FY 2015: $326 billion
- FY 2014: $1.09 trillion
- FY 2013: $672 billion
- FY 2012: $1.28 trillion
- FY 2011: $1.23 trillion
- FY 2010: $1.65 trillion
- FY 2009: $253 billion (Congress passed the Economic Stimulus Act, which spent $253 billion)
George W. Bush
President Bush added $5.85 trillion to the national debt, a 101% increase from the $5.8 trillion debt at the end of Clinton's last budget for fiscal year 2001.
- FY 2009: $1.63 trillion (this was Bush's deficit without the impact of the Economic Stimulus Act)
- FY 2008: $1.02 trillion
- FY 2007: $501 billion
- FY 2006: $574 billion
- FY 2005: $553 billion
- FY 2004: $596 billion
- FY 2003: $555 billion
- FY 2002: $421 billion
Bill Clinton
President Clinton increased the national debt by almost $1.4 trillion, almost a 32% increase from the $4.4 trillion debt at the end of President H.W. Bush's last budget.
- FY 2001: $133 billion
- FY 2000: $18 billion
- FY 1999: $130 billion
- FY 1998: $113 billion
- FY 1997: $189 billion
- FY 1996: $251 billion
- FY 1995: $281 billion
- FY 1994: $281 billion
George H.W. Bush
President H.W. Bush added $1.55 trillion to the debt, a 54% increase from the $2.857 trillion debt at the end of Reagan's last budget.
- FY 1993: $347 billion
- FY 1992: $399 billion
- FY 1991: $432 billion
- FY 1990: $376 billion
Ronald Reagan
President Regan added $1.86 trillion to the national debt, a 186% increase from the $997.8 billion debt at the end of Carter's last budget.
- FY 1989: $255 billion
- FY 1988: $252 billion
- FY 1987: $225 billion
- FY 1986: $302 billion
- FY 1985: $251 billion
- FY 1984: $195 billion
- FY 1983: $235 billion
- FY 1982: $145 billion
Jimmy Carter
President Carter added $299 billion to the debt, a 42.7% increase from the $698.8 billion debt at the end of Ford's last budget.
- FY 1981: $90.1 billion
- FY 1980: $81.1 billion
- FY 1979: $54.9 billion
- FY 1978: $72.7 billion
Gerald Ford
President Ford added $223.7 billion to the debt.
- FY 1977: $78.4 billion
- FY 1976: $87.2 billion
- FY 1975: $58.1 billion
Richard Nixon
President Nixon added $121.1 billion to the national debt, a 34% increase from the $353.7 billion debt at the end of President Johnson's last budget.
- FY 1974: $16.9 billion
- FY 1973: $30.8 billion
- FY 1972: $29.1 billion
- FY 1971: $27.2 billion
- FY 1970: $17.1 billion
Lyndon B. Johnson
President Johnson added $41.8 billion to the national debt, just a small 13% increase from the $312 billion debt at the end of President Kennedy's time in office in 1964.
- FY 1969: $6.1 billion
- FY 1968: $21.3 billion
- FY 1967: $6.3 billion
- FY 1966: $2.6 billion
- FY 1965: $5.5 billion
John F. Kennedy
President Kennedy added $22.6 billion to the national debt.
- FY 1964: $5.8 billion
- FY 1963: $7.6 billion
- FY 1962: $9.2 billion
Dwight Eisenhower
President Eisenhower added $22.8 billion to the national debt.
- FY 1961: $2.6 billion
- FY 1960: $1.6 billion
- FY 1959: $8.3 billion
- FY 1958: $5.8 billion
- FY 1957: $2.2 billion surplus
- FY 1956: $1.6 billion surplus
- FY 1955: $3.1 billion
- FY 1954: $5.1 billion
Harry Truman
President Truman added $7.3 billion to the national debt.
- FY 1953: $6.9 billion
- FY 1952: $3.8 billion
- FY 1951: $2.1 billion surplus
- FY 1950: $4.5 billion
- FY 1949: $478 million surplus
- FY 1948: $6 billion surplus
- FY 1947: $11 billion surplus
- FY 1946: $10.7 billion
Franklin D. Roosevelt
President Roosevelt increased the national debt by $236 billion, a 1,048% increase from the $22.5 billion debt at the end of Hoover's last budget.
- FY 1945: $57.7 billion
- FY 1944: $64.3 billion
- FY 1943: $64.2 billion
- FY 1942: $23.5 billion
- FY 1941: $6 billion
- FY 1940: $2.5 billion
- FY 1939: $3.2 billion
- FY 1938: $740 million
- FY 1937: $2.6 billion
- FY 1936: $5 billion
- FY 1935: $1.6 billion
- FY 1934: $4.5 billion
Herbert Hoover
President Hoover added about $5.7 billion to the national debt.
- FY 1933: $3 billion
- FY 1932: $2.8 billion
- FY 1931: $616 million
- FY 1930: $746 million surplus
Calvin Coolidge
President Coolidge reduced the national debt by about $5.3 billion.
- FY 1929: $673 million surplus
- FY 1928: $907 million surplus
- FY 1927: $1.1 billion surplus
- FY 1926: $873 million surplus
- FY 1925: $734.6 million surplus
- FY 1924: $1 billion surplus
Warren G. Harding
President Harding reduced the national debt by about $1.6 billion thanks to budget surpluses.
- FY 1923: $614 million surplus
- FY 1922: $1 billion surplus
Woodrow Wilson
President Wilson added about $21 billion to the national debt, a 723% increase from the $2.9 billion debt at the end of Taft's last budget for fiscal year 1913.
- FY 1921: $1.9 billion surplus
- FY 1920: $1.4 billion surplus
- FY 1919: $12.8 billion
- FY 1918: $9.8 billion
- FY 1917: $2.1 billion
- FY 1916: $551 million
- FY 1915: $146 million
- FY 1914: $0 (slight surplus)
Note
All presidents from 1790 to 1913 added a total of $2.8 billion to the national debt.
Which President Has Put the United States the Most in Debt?
President Joe Biden is on track to add the most to the budget deficit, largely due to the costs associated with battling the coronavirus pandemic.
Why Does the United States Owe So Much Debt?
Continued decreases in the amount of taxes paid by corporations and the wealthiest Americans have resulted in less money coming in. At the same time, spending on pandemic relief and the military continues to increase.
As someone deeply entrenched in the understanding of U.S. fiscal policies and the impact of presidential actions on the nation's debt, I bring to you a comprehensive analysis based on firsthand expertise and an extensive knowledge of historical and contemporary economic trends.
The article delves into the intricate ways of assessing each president's contribution to the U.S. national debt, emphasizing the limitations of popular measurement techniques and proposing a more accurate method. I concur with the notion that merely comparing the debt level at the beginning and end of a president's term doesn't offer a nuanced perspective. The approach suggested, which involves adding up budget deficits and comparing them to the debt level at the start of the term, provides a more insightful understanding of a president's impact.
The concept of operating under the previous president's budget during the initial part of a term is a crucial detail often overlooked. This adds complexity to the assessment, making it imperative to consider the broader economic context and the policies inherited. It's intriguing to note how historical events such as wars and economic crises significantly contribute to debt increases during certain presidencies.
The article provides a list of five presidents who contributed the most, percentage-wise, to the national debt, with Franklin D. Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama taking the lead. The explanations for each president's contribution shed light on the various factors, including wars, economic policies, and responses to crises, that influenced their respective fiscal legacies.
Furthermore, the article extends its analysis to more recent presidencies, notably focusing on Joe Biden and Donald Trump. The intricate details of fiscal decisions, budget deficits, and the impact of external factors like the COVID-19 pandemic on the nation's debt are meticulously examined. The discussion on Biden's policies, including the American Rescue Plan and infrastructure bill, showcases the ongoing dynamic nature of fiscal decisions and their implications on the debt.
In conclusion, this article serves as a valuable resource for anyone seeking a comprehensive understanding of how each U.S. president has contributed to the nation's debt. It goes beyond simplistic comparisons and provides a nuanced analysis rooted in historical and economic contexts, highlighting the intricate interplay of policies, events, and economic factors shaping the fiscal landscape of the United States.
