The Daily LedgerThe Daily Brief | Federal Spending
Daily Brief: Debt at $40.3 trillion on October 8 after a $21.3 billion one day rise
The national debt stood at $40.3 trillion on October 8, 2026, up $21.3 billion in a day, while Treasury operating cash deposits and withdrawals both came in near $300 billion.
Key takeaways
- The national debt stood at $40,305,316,210,829.72 on October 8, 2026, up $21.3 billion from October 7, for a total of $40.3 trillion.
- Debt per resident, dividing the total by the Census population figure of 342,875,301, comes to $117,551.
- The Daily Treasury Statement for October 8 recorded $301.4 billion in deposits and $299.7 billion in withdrawals, a net inflow of $1.7 billion to the Treasury General Account.
The debt number
The total public debt outstanding on October 8 was $40,305,316,210,829.72, an increase of $21,280,063,463 from the October 7 total of $40,284,036,147,367.19. A one day move of $21.3 billion sits in the middle of the recent range, smaller than the $88.8 billion single day increase recorded on October 1 and larger than the $11.0 billion increase on October 7.
Over the 63 days ending October 8, the debt grew by $415.1 billion. That is an average pace of about $6.59 billion per day, or about $76,252 per second. At that average pace, debt per resident rises by about $19.21 per day. Debt per resident is a measure of scale only. It divides the total debt by the resident population so the size of the total can be compared across years.
The daily cash picture
The Daily Treasury Statement tracks cash moving through the Treasury General Account, the government's main operating account. October 8 was a heavy settlement day: deposits totaled $301,352,000,000 and withdrawals totaled $299,666,000,000, leaving a net inflow of $1,686,000,000 for the day.
Days near $300 billion on both sides of the ledger occur several times a month, when large batches of tax receipts, benefit payments, and Treasury security settlements clear on the same date. The quieter October 7 statement, with $19.4 billion in deposits and $19.0 billion in withdrawals, shows the other end of the range. The statement measures daily cash flow. The debt total measures securities issued and outstanding over time. The two series answer different questions, and both are published by the Treasury from the same underlying accounts.
Sources
1. U.S. Department of the Treasury, Fiscal Data, Debt to the Penny dataset: https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/debt-to-the-penny/debt-to-the-penny
2. U.S. Department of the Treasury, Fiscal Data, Daily Treasury Statement, Operating Cash Balance: https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/daily-treasury-statement/operating-cash-balance
Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury, Daily Treasury Statement, September 28, 2026; Debt to the Penny.
Sources and methodology
Methodology. Daily cash figures are from the U.S. Treasury’s Daily Treasury Statement (DTS) for September 28, 2026, the government’s official daily cash-flow report. The DTS records money actually moving in and out of Treasury accounts; it is not the same as the budget deficit, which is measured monthly on an accrual-adjusted basis.
- U.S. Department of the Treasury, Daily Treasury Statement – operating cash balance, September 28, 2026 (fiscaldata.treasury.gov)
- U.S. Department of the Treasury, Debt to the Penny – September 28, 2026 (fiscaldata.treasury.gov)
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