The Daily LedgerThe Daily Brief | Federal Spending
Daily Brief: The debt number moved again before the weekend, and Monday readers are seeing it first in full
The national debt stood at $40,388,317,675,071.91 in the latest Treasury close dated October 15, 2026, while the Daily Treasury Statement for that date recorded $449,175,000,000 in deposits against $400,307,000,000 in withdrawals.
Key takeaways
- The national debt stood at $40,388,317,675,071.91 on October 15, 2026, the latest close published by the Treasury, up $59,087,847,530.89 from October 14, for a total of 40.4 trillion dollars.
- Debt per resident, dividing the total by the Census population figure of 342,875,301, comes to $117,793.
- The Daily Treasury Statement for October 15 recorded $449,175,000,000 in deposits and $400,307,000,000 in withdrawals, a net inflow of $48,868,000,000.
The number moved again overnight into October 15
The number moved again overnight. Most people will never see the exact figure behind the round headline. Yesterday the Ledger closed its weekend coverage at this same total, because the Treasury has not published a newer close since October 15. The one day move into that close is the part the headlines skipped: the total rose by $59,087,847,530.89 from $40,329,229,827,541.02 on October 14.
Over the 64 days ending October 15, the debt grew by $474,788,355,607, an average pace of about $7,418,568,056 per day, or about $85,863 per second. At that average pace, debt per resident rises by about $21.64 per day. Followers get the number, every morning, in this Brief, and Monday is the first full weekday read of the October 15 close with the cash lines attached.
The cash lines inside the same statement
The Daily Treasury Statement for October 15 recorded $449,175,000,000 in deposits and $400,307,000,000 in withdrawals. Deposits are the cash coming into the Treasury General Account, mainly tax receipts and proceeds from selling Treasury securities. Withdrawals are the cash going out, mainly benefit payments, payroll, interest, and payments to contractors and states. Deposits exceeded withdrawals by $48,868,000,000 on October 15, even as the debt total rose, because the cash balance and the borrowing total follow different calendars.
The distance to the next round number is part of the same picture: $611,682,324,928.09 stands between the October 15 total and 41 trillion dollars, about 82 days at the recent average pace. Tomorrow the Ledger will publish the next Daily Brief with the next Treasury close as soon as the Treasury posts it, and the daily streak continues.
Data vintage: Treasury Debt to the Penny and Daily Treasury Statement figures dated October 15, 2026, pulled October 19, 2026. The Ledger snapshot for this date reports deposit and withdrawal totals only, so no line by line breakdown is published with this brief.
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 dataset: https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/daily-treasury-statement/daily-treasury-statement
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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