US National Debt in Labor Hours, 1966–2026
Topic: Government & Debt
In this chart: US federal debt, Average hourly earnings
About this chart
The line is the US national debt, expressed in hours of work: the dollar amount divided by the average hourly wage that month. The sphere at its tip is the average hourly wage; its area is proportional to it, so a sphere with twice the area is twice the value. The animation runs the record over forty-one seconds, holds on the latest month for three seconds, and loops. The scrubber under the chart marks the years and pauses on any month, and the sphere scaling and the speed can be changed in the controls.
Method
Debt is total public debt outstanding. Through March 1993 it is the quarter-end value from FRED series GFDEBTN, with the months between quarter-ends interpolated; from April 1993 it is the last business day of each month from the US Treasury's Debt to the Penny. Wage is average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory employees, total private, seasonally adjusted (FRED series AHETPI). Hours are debt divided by wage. Three notes mark moments found in the data: the lowest month (September 1974), the largest fall over twelve months (to December 2000) and the largest rise over twelve months (to July 2020). The series ends at the latest complete month.
Data sources
- FRED GFDEBTN — Federal Debt: Total Public Debt
- US Treasury Fiscal Data — Debt to the Penny
- FRED AHETPI — Average Hourly Earnings, Production and Nonsupervisory Employees
Updated August 2026
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