United States Economy - 2024

Economic overview

high-income, diversified North American economy; NATO leader; largest importer and second-largest exporter; home to leading financial exchanges; high and growing public debt; rising socioeconomic inequalities; historically low interest rates; hit by COVID-19

Real GDP (purchasing power parity)

$21.132 trillion (2021 est.)
$19.946 trillion (2020 est.)
$20.513 trillion (2019 est.)

note: data are in 2017 dollars

Real GDP growth rate

5.95% (2021 est.)
-2.77% (2020 est.)
2.29% (2019 est.)

Real GDP per capita

$63,700 (2021 est.)
$60,200 (2020 est.)
$62,500 (2019 est.)

note: data are in 2017 dollars

GDP (official exchange rate)

$21,433,228,000,000 (2019 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

4.7% (2021 est.)
1.23% (2020 est.)
1.81% (2019 est.)

Credit ratings

Fitch rating: AAA (1994)

Moody's rating: Aaa (1949)

Standard & Poors rating: AA+ (2011)

note: The year refers to the year in which the current credit rating was first obtained.

GDP - composition, by sector of origin

agriculture: 0.9% (2017 est.)

industry: 19.1% (2017 est.)

services: 80% (2017 est.)

GDP - composition, by end use

household consumption: 68.4% (2017 est.)

government consumption: 17.3% (2017 est.)

investment in fixed capital: 17.2% (2017 est.)

investment in inventories: 0.1% (2017 est.)

exports of goods and services: 12.1% (2017 est.)

imports of goods and services: -15% (2017 est.)

Agricultural products

maize, milk, soybeans, wheat, sugar cane, sugar beet, poultry, potatoes, cotton, pork

Industries

highly diversified, world leading, high-technology innovator, second-largest industrial output in the world; petroleum, steel, motor vehicles, aerospace, telecommunications, chemicals, electronics, food processing, consumer goods, lumber, mining

Industrial production growth rate

3.25% (2021 est.)

Labor force

164.797 million (2021 est.)

note: includes unemployed

Unemployment rate

5.46% (2021 est.)
8.05% (2020 est.)
3.67% (2019 est.)

Youth unemployment rate (ages 15-24)

total: 9.6% (2021 est.)

male: 10.5%

female: 8.6%

Population below poverty line

15.1% (2010 est.)

Gini Index coefficient - distribution of family income

41.5 (2019 est.)

Average household expenditures

on food: 6.4% of household expenditures (2018 est.)

on alcohol and tobacco: 1.7% of household expenditures (2018 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share

lowest 10%: 2%

highest 10%: 30% (2007 est.)

Remittances

0.03% of GDP (2021 est.)
0.03% of GDP (2020 est.)
0.03% of GDP (2019 est.)

Budget

revenues: $6.429 trillion (2019 est.)

expenditures: $7.647 trillion (2019 est.)

Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-)

-3.4% (of GDP) (2017 est.)

Public debt

126.39% of GDP (2020 est.)
100.9% of GDP (2019 est.)
99.15% of GDP (2018 est.)

note: data cover only what the United States Treasury denotes as "Debt Held by the Public," which includes all debt instruments issued by the Treasury that are owned by non-US Government entities; the data include Treasury debt held by foreign entities; the data exclude debt issued by individual US states, as well as intragovernmental debt; intragovernmental debt consists of Treasury borrowings from surpluses in the trusts for Federal Social Security, Federal Employees, Hospital and Supplemental Medical Insurance (Medicare), Disability and Unemployment, and several other smaller trusts; if data for intragovernment debt were added, "gross debt" would increase by about one-third of GDP

Taxes and other revenues

9.86% (of GDP) (2020 est.)

note: excludes contributions for social security and other programs; if social contributions were added, taxes and other revenues would amount to approximately 22% of GDP

Fiscal year

1 October - 30 September

Current account balance

-$846.354 billion (2021 est.)
-$619.702 billion (2020 est.)
-$445.955 billion (2019 est.)

Exports

$2.557 trillion (2021 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$2.159 trillion (2020 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$2.546 trillion (2019 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

Exports - partners

Canada 16%, Mexico 15%, China 9%, Japan 4%, South Korea 4% (2021)

Exports - commodities

refined petroleum, natural gas, crude petroleum, cars and vehicle parts, integrated circuits, aircraft, vaccines and cultures (2021)

Imports

$3.402 trillion (2021 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$2.813 trillion (2020 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$3.106 trillion (2019 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

Imports - partners

China 19%, Mexico 13%, Canada 13%, Germany 5%, Japan 5% (2021)

Imports - commodities

cars, crude petroleum, computers, broadcasting equipment, packaged medicines (2021)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

$716.152 billion (31 December 2021 est.)
$628.37 billion (31 December 2020 est.)
$516.701 billion (31 December 2019 est.)

Debt - external

$20,275,951,000,000 (2019 est.)
$19,452,478,000,000 (2018 est.)

note: approximately 4/5ths of US external debt is denominated in US dollars; foreign lenders have been willing to hold US dollar denominated debt instruments because they view the dollar as the world's reserve currency

Exchange rates

British pounds per US dollar: 0.7836 (2017 est.), 0.738 (2016 est.), 0.738 (2015 est.), 0.607 (2014 est), 0.6391 (2013 est.)
Canadian dollars per US dollar: 1, 1.308 (2017 est.), 1.3256 (2016 est.), 1.3256 (2015 est.), 1.2788 (2014 est.), 1.0298 (2013 est.)
Chinese yuan per US dollar: 1, 6.7588 (2017 est.), 6.6445 (2016 est.), 6.2275 (2015 est.), 6.1434 (2014 est.), 6.1958 (2013 est.)
euros per US dollar: 0.885 (2017 est.), 0.903 (2016 est.), 0.9214(2015 est.), 0.885 (2014 est.), 0.7634 (2013 est.)
Japanese yen per US dollar: 111.10 (2017 est.), 108.76 (2016 est.), 108.76 (2015 est.), 121.02 (2014 est.), 97.44 (2013 est.)

note 1: the following countries and territories use the US dollar officially as their legal tender: British Virgin Islands, Ecuador, El Salvador, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Timor Leste, Turks and Caicos, and islands of the Caribbean Netherlands (Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba)

note 2: the following countries and territories use the US dollar as official legal tender alongside local currency: Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Costa Rica, and Panama

note 3: the following countries and territories widely accept the US dollar as a dominant currency but have yet to declare it as legal tender: Bermuda, Burma, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Somalia

Exchange rates:
1 (2021 est.)
1 (2020 est.)
1 (2019 est.)
1 (2018 est.)
1 (2017 est.)