Government Financial Transparency Project Archive - Reason Foundation

View this year’s report

Report: Cities have $1.4 trillion in debt

Nationally, cities report $1.4 trillion in debt, equivalent to approximately $7,000 per capita, according to Reason Foundation’s State and Local Government Finance Report.
Report: County governments have $757 billion in debt

County governments had $757 billion in debt at the end of 2023, equivalent to approximately $2,600 per capita nationwide, according to Reason Foundation’s State and Local Government Finance Report.

Current Report

Report: State and local governments have $6.1 trillion in debt

State and local debt is over $100 billion in 16 states and exceeds $50 billion in 27 states. California’s state and local governments have over $1 trillion in debt.

By Mariana Trujillo and Jordan Campbell
October 23, 2025

Previous Reports

Debt trends for state and local governments 2020-2022

This tool provides debt and spending insights for the 100 largest municipalities, counties and school districts in America and all 50 states for fiscal years 2020, 2021 and 2022.

By Reason Foundation, Geoffrey Lawrence, Mariana Trujillo, Thuy Nguyen, Jordan Campbell, Carter Langofer and Leonard Gilroy
December 19, 2024