The U.S. Economy at Your Fingertips

How fast did the U.S. economy grow on average between any two years? How fast did the national debt grow between those same two years? How about population growth? What about the effect of inflation?

If you've ever gone digging through economic data for the U.S., you know that these aren't easy questions to answer. Until now, that is, since we've put the entire annual economic history of the United States, as represented by its annual population, GDP and national debt data, right at your fingertips!

All you need to select your years of interest. We'll provide the relevant nominal data for each year, the inflation-adjusted data for each year, and then we'll go the extra mile and find out the compound annualized rate of growth for each of these major statistics!

But wait, that's not all! We'll also calculate the United States' national debt-to-income ratio for each year and a special statistic that we find useful in measuring the relative income and national debt load per person in the U.S: the national-debt-per-capita-to-GDP index, which we've found to be a pretty good measure of the level of national distress experienced by the U.S. throughout its history!

Years of Interest
Input Data	Values
Beginning Year (* Projected)	1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Ending Year (* Projected)	1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Historic Economic Data (Nominal)
Calculated Results	Starting Year	Ending Year	Rate of Change
Year
Population
Nominal GDP
Nominal National Debt
Debt-to-Income Ratio (Debt Burden)
Economic Data Per Capita
Nominal GDP per Capita
Nominal National Debt per Capita
National Debt-to-GDP per Capita Index Value (Debt Burden per Capita)
Historic Economic Data (Adjusted for Inflation)
Real GDP [Constant 2005 USD]
Real National Debt [Constant 2005 USD]
Economic Data Per Capita (Adjusted for Inflation)
Real GDP per Capita [Constant 2005 USD]
Real National Debt per Capita [Constant 2005 USD]

Update 19 November 2010: We've updated the tool with all the numbers through all of 2009!

We've also projected the population, GDP and inflation data for 2010. All these figures are subject to revision, especially the GDP and GDP deflator data, which won't be finalized until March 2011.

The DTIP index value (that measure of national distress level we mentioned above the tool) meanwhile has risen from an average range between 2.1 and 2.2 during the years from 2000 through 2007 to nearly 2.6 in April 2009. While this value has risen much higher in the past, coinciding with traumatic national events such as the Civil War and World War II, the highest sustained value for the index during peacetime is roughly 3.0, which it held between 1933 and 1941.

In terms of today's assumed GDP, that figure would correlate to a national debt level of $13.1 trillion, or a debt-to-income ratio of 92%. By contrast, the debt-to-income ratio for the years of 1933 to 1941 averaged roughly 41%. As such, we view the current spending binge by the federal government as leading to unsustainable deficits.

Where All This Data Came From

Here is all the original source data for all the information provided by the tool above:

• U.S. Population 1791-2006
  
  
• U.S. Population 2007-Present
  
  
• U.S. GDP 1791-2009
  
  
• U.S. National Debt 1791-1849 - Note: Data for 1843 marks shift in date recorded from January 1 to July 1.
  
  
• U.S. National Debt 1850-1899
  
  
• U.S. National Debt 1900-1949
  
  
• U.S. National Debt 1950-1999 - Note: Data spanning 1975 through 1985 rounded to the nearest million.
  
  
• U.S. National Debt 2000-Present