Release · 2026-10-23 to 2026-10-26

The national debt rose $30.70 billion to a record $40.444 trillion on October 22

Treasury Fiscal Data's Debt to the Penny lists total public debt outstanding at 40,444,342,709,389.15 dollars as of Thursday, October 22, 2026, up 30,703,697,083.18 dollars from 40,413,639,012,305.97 dollars on Wednesday, October 21. That is the highest total in the dataset, 4,796,693,350.07 dollars above the previous record of 40,439,546,016,039.08 dollars on Tuesday, October 20. On October 22, debt held by the public was 32,597,664,070,880.23 dollars, up 31.32 billion dollars from October 21, while intragovernmental holdings were 7,846,678,638,508.92 dollars, down 613.8 million dollars. Total public debt outstanding is up 272,517,608,048.84 dollars from 40,171,825,101,340.31 dollars on September 30, 2026, the last day of fiscal year 2026.

Total public debt outstanding: $40,444,342,709,389.15 2026-10-22 · prior $40,413,639,012,305.97 (2026-10-21)
Total public debt outstanding, previous record: $40,439,546,016,039.08 2026-10-20
Debt held by the public: $32,597,664,070,880.23 2026-10-22 · prior $32,566,346,587,338.02 (2026-10-21)
Intragovernmental holdings: $7,846,678,638,508.92 2026-10-22 · prior $7,847,292,424,967.95 (2026-10-21)
Total public debt outstanding, end of fiscal 2026: $40,171,825,101,340.31 2026-09-30

Total public debt outstanding. Treasury Fiscal Data Debt to the Penny, October 13 to October 22, 2026. Share card.

Source: Debt to the Penny API, record dates September 30 to October 22, 2026 — U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service. Also: Debt to the Penny.

all 5 figures found at the source

found Total public debt outstanding = $40,444,342,709,389.15 — at U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service
found Total public debt outstanding, previous record = $40,439,546,016,039.08 — at U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service
found Debt held by the public = $32,597,664,070,880.23 — at U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service
found Intragovernmental holdings = $7,846,678,638,508.92 — at U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service
found Total public debt outstanding, end of fiscal 2026 = $40,171,825,101,340.31 — at U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service

Researched by Grok, checked against each source by an automated pass, edited by Clem Ziroli III. Published Oct 23, 2026, updated Oct 26, 2026.

This page is one print. The daily brief for October 23, 2026 is the editor's cut of what mattered that day. Figures are as the named sources printed them. The methodology says how this page is made and what is checked.