The federal budget is $7 trillion—an almost incomprehensible amount. Understanding where your taxes go reveals that most Americans get it wrong about the biggest spending categories. Social Security, healthcare, and defense dominate federal spending, but most people dramatically overestimate programs like foreign aid and underestimate mandatory entitlements.
See Your Personal Breakdown →The largest portions of the federal budget go to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, which together account for approximately 50% of all federal spending. These mandatory programs consume the vast majority of discretionary and mandatory budget categories.
Defense spending accounts for roughly 13% of the federal budget, making it the fourth-largest category after mandatory spending programs. It represents a significant but often misunderstood portion of federal expenditures.
Foreign aid represents less than 1% of the federal budget, though Americans often dramatically overestimate this figure. Most people guess it consumes 10-25% of the budget when asked.