Defense spending includes all federal spending for national defense, DOD and civilian, but excludes veterans affairs. Public school spending includes all government expenditures (federal, state, and local) for public schools elementary through high school. All education spending includes public school spending plus expenditures for private primary and secondary schools and for private and public post-secondary institutions. All figures adjusted for inflation (expressed in 2021 $)

The table below gives yearly expenditures in millions of inflation-adjusted dollars (2021 $) and in then-year dollars (current $). Figures in parenthesis are estimated.

in 2021 $ (millions)						in current year $ (millions)
year	defense	public K-12	all K-12	higher education	all education	year	defense	public K-12	all K-12	higher education	all education
1910	9,293	12,655	14,243	2,728	16,972	1910	313	426	480	92	572
1911	9,213	12,975				1911	317	447
1912	9,097	13,741				1912	320	483
1913	9,258	14,397				1913	335	522
1914	9,355	14,921				1914	348	555
1915	9,119	16,048				1915	344	605
1916	8,678	16,493	(18,300)	2,935	(21,200)	1916	337	641	(710)	114	(820)
1917	14,009					1917	618
1918	119,228	14,808				1918	6,149	764
1919	181,396					1919	11,011
1920	33,057	14,526	(16,100)	3,034	(19,200)	1920	2,358	1,036	(1,150)	216	(1,370)
1921	24,728					1921	1,769
1922	14,570	24,642				1922	935	1,581
1923	11,615					1923	730
1924	10,725	28,338				1924	689	1,821
1925	11,121					1925	717
1926	10,154	30,396				1926	677	2,026
1927	10,511					1927	688
1928	11,356	33,869				1928	732	2,184
1929	12,352					1929	791
1930	13,096	36,163	39,803	7,915	47,718	1930	839	2,317	2,550	507	3,057
1931	13,920					1931	833
1932	15,450	40,296	44,550	9,941	54,491	1932	834	2,175	2,404	537	2,941
1933	16,089					1933	784
1934	14,238	34,714	38,280	9,471	47,751	1934	706	1,720	1,897	469	2,366
1935	18,173					1935	924
1936	22,315	38,289	41,567	10,529	52,096	1936	1,148	1,969	2,137	541	2,679
1937	22,421					1937	1,185
1938	23,129	41,639	45,645	11,456	57,101	1938	1,240	2,233	2,448	614	3,062
1939	26,184					1939	1,368
1940	34,379	44,802	49,141	12,896	62,036	1940	1,799	2,344	2,571	675	3,102
1941	121,429					1941	6,435
1942	439,757	39,809	43,854	12,652	56,506	1942	25,658	2,323	2,559	738	3,297
1943	1,052,686					1943	66,699
1944	1,213,254	37,604	41,656	14,933	56,589	1944	79,143	2,453	2,717	974	3,691
1945	1,246,107					1945	82,965
1946	625,239	42,585	47,588	15,944	63,532	1946	42,681	2,907	3,249	1,088	4,337
1947	161,201					1947	12,808
1948	104,414	49,440	55,518	21,597	77,115	1948	9,105	4,311	4,841	1,883	6,725
1949	145,735					1949	13,150
1950	154,859	65,870	74,705	25,340	100,045	1950	13,724	5,838	6,621	2,246	8,494
1951	250,570					1951	23,566
1952	468,607	74,672	85,121	25,124	110,245	1952	46,089	7,344	8,372	2,471	10,843
1953	529,010					1953	52,802
1954	489,545	90,350	103,805	28,647	132,452	1954	49,266	9,092	10,447	2,883	13,329
1955	426,651					1955	42,729
1956	422,699	108,898	125,070	34,787	159,856	1956	42,523	10,955	12,582	3,500	16,081
1957	439,020					1957	45,430
1958	437,989	126,950	146,399	42,192	188,591	1958	46,815	13,569	15,648	4,510	20,158
1959	452,238					1959	49,015
1960	437,724	141,994	163,931	50,943	214,873	1960	48,130	15,613	18,025	5,601	22,314
1961	445,492					1961	49,601
1962	467,111	163,316	189,804	63,596	253,400	1962	52,550	18,373	21,353	7,155	28,508
1963	471,687					1963	53,718
1964	476,853	184,761	211,360	79,516	290,876	1964	55,038	21,325	24,395	9,178	33,573
1965	436,546					1965	51,023
1966	494,023	219,789	249,934	104,749	354,683	1966	58,998	26,248	29,848	12,510	42,358
1967	584,317			115,502		1967	71,990			14,230
1968	645,428	259,084	291,296	129,482	420,778	1968	82,152	32,977	37,077	16,481	53,558
1969	619,609			138,444		1969	82,715			18,482
1970	579,325	287,732	305,413	148,834	454,247	1970	81,912	40,683	43,183	21,044	64,227
1971	531,367	306,006	324,164	157,206	481,370	1971	79,009	45,500	48,200	23,375	71,575
1972	515,167	312,004	330,835	165,969	496,804	1972	79,338	48,050	50,950	25,560	76,510
1973	481,191	323,636	342,985	174,488	517,473	1973	77,095	51,852	54,952	27,956	82,908
1974	462,543	326,450	345,933	175,998	521,931	1974	80,720	56,970	60,370	30,714	91,084
1975	452,032	334,560	355,197	180,869	536,066	1975	87,615	64,846	68,846	35,057	103,903
1976	430,066	340,148	361,828	187,430	549,258	1976	89,876	70,601	75,101	38,903	114,004
1977	436,824	337,786	360,549	193,942	554,491	1977	97,517	74,194	79,194	42,599	121,793
1978	437,936	344,907	369,225	196,127	565,352	1978	104,649	80,844	86,544	45,971	132,515
1979	442,970	338,240	362,815	197,849	560,664	1979	116,777	86,712	93,012	50,721	143,733
1980	449,605	330,298	355,080	195,893	550,973	1980	134,629	95,962	103,162	56,913	160,075
1981	474,887	321,161	346,453	197,564	544,017	1981	157,964	104,125	112,325	64,053	176,378
1982	520,550	315,683	342,088	199,709	541,796	1982	185,933	111,186	120,486	70,339	190,825
1983	567,674	322,396	350,436	206,725	557,162	1983	209,882	118,425	128,725	75,936	204,661
1984	592,451	334,722	364,913	215,254	580,166	1984	228,045	127,500	139,000	81,993	220,993
1985	634,197	346,094	377,420	227,237	604,657	1985	253,109	137,000	149,400	89,951	239,351
1986	669,668	364,877	397,289	239,493	636,782	1986	273,832	148,600	161,800	97,536	259,336
1987	671,726	386,519	420,871	254,069	674,940	1987	282,517	160,900	175,200	105,764	280,964
1988	664,274	398,353	433,644	262,464	696,109	1988	290,918	172,699	187,999	113,787	301,786
1989	662,734	425,476	461,635	273,107	734,742	1989	304,034	192,977	209,377	123,869	333,246
1990	623,137	447,725	486,444	283,350	769,794	1990	300,141	212,770	231,170	134,655	365,825
1991	631,888	457,764	497,269	291,478	788,747	1991	319,704	229,430	249,230	146,088	395,318
1992	580,565	466,029	506,048	301,959	808,007	1992	302,602	241,055	261,755	156,189	417,944
1993	544,549	474,175	514,856	309,776	824,632	1993	292,430	252,935	274,635	165,241	439,876
1994	512,165	484,818	525,934	316,777	842,711	1994	282,266	265,307	287,807	173,350	461,157
1995	482,831	495,637	537,207	325,040	862,247	1995	273,562	279,000	302,400	182,969	485,369
1996	456,626	507,846	550,045	329,420	879,465	1996	265,961	293,646	318,046	190,477	508,523
1997	454,320	526,549	569,931	336,128	906,059	1997	271,674	313,151	338,951	199,903	538,854
1998	444,703	552,300	597,400	345,037	942,438	1998	270,250	334,315	361,615	208,856	570,471
1999	444,735	577,853	624,622	355,491	980,113	1999	275,463	355,838	384,638	218,909	603,547
2000	461,552	602,677	651,132	373,730	1,024,862	2000	294,965	381,838	412,538	236,784	649,322
2001	463,992	626,927	678,814	397,093	1,075,907	2001	306,075	410,811	444,811	260,206	705,017
2002	521,185	652,838	707,871	420,940	1,128,811	2002	348,952	435,364	472,064	280,716	752,780
2003	590,937	667,460	723,069	444,405	1,167,474	2003	404,942	454,907	492,807	302,884	795,691
2004	647,580	680,947	737,377	454,811	1,192,188	2004	454,057	474,242	513,542	316,751	830,293
2005	681,571	696,358	754,066	466,989	1,221,055	2005	493,603	499,569	540,969	335,019	875,988
2006	692,495	709,350	767,626	474,781	1,242,407	2006	519,967	528,269	571,669	353,580	925,249
2007	712,917	735,860	796,463	491,563	1,288,026	2007	547,868	562,195	608,495	375,553	984,048
2008	763,044	753,908	815,880	515,577	1,331,457	2008	612,434	597,314	646,414	408,487	1,054,901
2009	820,867	759,709	820,204	536,189	1,356,393	2009	656,724	610,326	658,926	430,757	1,089,683
2010	846,767	748,340	806,775	550,425	1,357,201	2010	688,854	607,018	654,418	446,479	1,100,897
2011	837,490	730,399	788,410	570,434	1,358,844	2011	699,392	604,356	652,356	471,996	1,124,352
2012	783,983	706,859	761,811	573,104	1,334,915	2012	670,523	601,994	648,794	488,082	1,136,876
2013	719,916	700,845	756,514	576,165	1,332,678	2013	625,750	606,813	655,013	498,861	1,153,874
2014	675,273	710,749	768,518	587,992	1,356,510	2014	596,449	625,018	675,818	517,068	1,192,886
2015	658,446	735,099	797,191	604,543	1,401,734	2015	583,385	651,135	706,135	535,491	1,241,626
2016	654,000	759,878	826,378	627,395	1,453,772	2016	584,831	677,605	736,905	559,466	1,296,371
2017	646,733	779,160	847,210	642,591	1,489,801	2017	590,192	707,601	769,401	583,575	1,352,976
2018	666,194	(793,000)	(861,000)	(650,000)	(1,512,000)	2018	622,687	(736,000)	(800,000)	(604,000)	(1,404,000)
2019	710,457	(807,000)	(878,000)	(655,000)	(1,533,000)	2019	676,370	(765,000)	(832,000)	(621,000)	(1,453,000)
2020	739,173					2020	713,750
2021	(710,846)					2021	(705,392)

Sources:

• Defense: CBO; Statistical Abstract of the United States, various issues; National Defense Budget Estimates for FY 2021.
• Education: Dept. of Education; Dept. of Education; Statistical Abstract of the United States, various issues.
• CPI for inflation adjustments: U.S. Dept. of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics [ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/cpi/cpiai.txt] and U.S. Inflation Calculator [http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/consumer-price-index-and-annual-percent-changes-from-1913-to-2008/],

© 2001-2021, 2023 by Wm. Robert Johnston.
Last modified 29 January 2023.
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