Of the $40.047 trillion total, the government owes 81% to the public — businesses, states, local governments, foreign governments and other entities — and the remaining 19% to itself, in intragovernmental holdings like Social Security.
How the $40.047 trillion splits
DEBT HELD BY THE PUBLIC VS. INTRAGOVERNMENTAL
$32.2T81%
$7.8T19%
Debt held by the public — businesses, states, local & foreign governments
Intragovernmental holdings — Social Security & other government funds
Top foreign holders of US Treasuries
JUNE 2026 · US$ BILLION
1🇯🇵 Japan
$1,116.0B
2🇬🇧 United Kingdom
$939.9B
3🇨🇳 China
$633.4B
Does the US have $40 trillion sitting in a bank account?
NO — HERE'S WHY
When Japan holds $1.1 trillion in Treasuries, the US doesn't set aside $1.1 trillion in cash to hand over. Instead, it issues more Treasury bills, notes, or bonds — a practice called "rolling over debt."
STEP 1
US needs $1 trillion
→
STEP 2
Sells Treasury bonds
→
STEP 3
Investors hand over $1 trillion
→
STEP 4
Government spends it
→
STEP 5
Promises to repay principal + interest later
↻ and the cycle continues
Path A — Collect taxes → repay bondholders directly
Path B — Borrow again → repay old bonds → issue new bonds
Why debt-to-GDP matters more than the raw number
US TREASURY FISCALDATA
A country's ability to repay its debt isn't judged by the dollar figure alone — it's judged against the size of its economy. The gross debt-to-GDP ratio shows the burden of debt relative to a country's total economic output, and therefore its real capacity to repay it, according to the US Treasury's FiscalData.