A real-time debt clock for Apple TV that ticks every second, visualizes decades of history, and puts the numbers in human perspective.
Download on tvOS About the DataUS Debt is built for the big screen — designed to be informative, beautiful, and always up to date.
The hero counter increments every second using the average rate of debt growth calculated from real Treasury data.
After 3 minutes of inactivity, a full-screen ambient debt clock activates — perfect for always-on display setups.
A bar chart on the History tab shows exactly how much debt was added under each presidential term since 1993.
See what the debt means per citizen, per taxpayer, and per household — with detailed explanations behind every number.
Pick a show length (30 min, 1 hr, 2 hr…) and see exactly how much debt was added while you were watching.
Data silently refreshes every 60 seconds in the background — no loading spinners, always current.
All debt figures displayed in US Debt are sourced exclusively from official U.S. government APIs. No third-party data brokers, no estimates, no editorial adjustments.
The primary data source is the U.S. Treasury Fiscal Data API, a free, publicly available government API that provides official debt-to-the-penny figures. This is the same data source used by the U.S. government itself to report national debt.
Endpoint used: fiscaldata.treasury.gov
Dataset: Debt to the Penny (v1/accounting/od/debt_to_penny)
The app calculates a per-second debt growth rate by comparing the two most recent yearly records from the Treasury API: (latest total − prior year total) ÷ seconds between the two dates. This rate is then used to extrapolate the current debt value between data refreshes.
This means the live counter is an estimate based on real historical data — it reflects the average rate of debt growth over the past year, not a real-time Treasury feed (which does not exist publicly). The underlying figures are refreshed every 60 seconds when a network connection is available.
The following figures are fixed reference values used for contextual comparisons. They are periodically reviewed but are not live-fetched:
• U.S. GDP: ~$27.4 trillion (World Bank / BEA estimate)
• U.S. Population: ~335 million (U.S. Census Bureau estimate)
• Annual Interest: ~$1.1 trillion (FY2024 OMB/Treasury figure)
• Taxpayer count: ~150 million (IRS estimate)
• Household count: ~130 million (U.S. Census Bureau estimate)
US Debt is an independent project — no corporate backing, no political affiliation, no advertising. The goal is simple: make one of the most important numbers in America visible, understandable, and hard to ignore.
The app presents factual data from official government sources. It does not editorialize, advocate for any political position, or suggest any particular fiscal policy. The numbers speak for themselves.
Questions, feedback, or data corrections? Open an issue on GitHub.