How much does the government spend per person?
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USAFacts recently covered how much the federal government collects in revenue per person. But how does the government spend that money to benefit people in this country? While actual per-person spending can vary widely, these breakdowns help make sense of the trillions in taxpayer money the federal government spent in 2022.
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- The federal government spent $6.48 trillion in 2022, down $920 billion from the previous year (after adjusting for inflation). For context, the federal government collected $5.03 trillion in 2022.
- Per-person spending was $19,434, down 13% from 2021. Most of this spending included grants to state and local governments ($3,707 per person on average) and Social Security ($3,657 on average).
- Expenditures also included $2,282 per person for national defense, $395 on programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and $1,451 toward paying off national debt interest.
- Over the last 40 years, a portion of per-person spending has shifted from national defense to social programs. Spending on defense and support for veterans comprised an average of 28.7% of federal expenditures in the 1980s. From 2013 to 2022, the average was 18.6%.
Which federal departments made up the biggest segments of last year’s federal budget? See a top 10 list in this article. For more on how the government collects the money it spends, read part one of this federal budget visualization.
Who has had long COVID?
Of the millions of Americans who have had COVID-19 over the past three years, 35 million have developed long COVID. Here’s an exploration of who’s had long COVID in America as of December 2022.
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- Long COVID is measured by three levels of severity. Moderate levels seem to be, on average, more common than severe or minimal symptoms. People 40 and older had the highest rates of moderate symptoms. And while people over 55 had the highest severe long COVID rates, people ages 18 to 24 have rates two percentage points below that.
- Hispanic and Latino Americans, Black Americans, and people of more than one race had above-average rates of long COVID. Fifteen percent of Asian Americans had severe long COVID symptoms, the highest rate of any racial group.
- At 46%, transgender people had the highest rates of long COVID compared to cisgender women (32%) and cisgender men (22%). The Department of Health and Human Services says long COVID is more prevalent in transgender people due to challenges in accessing healthcare.
For a definition of long COVID, plus more data by age, race, and gender, visit USAFacts.
Data behind the news
Last Tuesday was Valentine's Day. Was there love in the air? Hard to say, but the government does collect data on relationships and marriage in the US. In 1949, 78.8% of households had married couples. In 2022, 46.8% did.
The weekly fact quiz is here!
One last fact
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Gasoline prices rose in January after falling the month prior. Used vehicle prices continued to drop after a pandemic-induced surge. Egg prices are 70.1% higher than a year ago. For more on how the government measures inflation, read this article.
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