Defense vs. Education: America's Spending Priorities

In FY2025, the federal government will spend approximately $1.42 trillion on national defense and $349 billion on education — including all federal education programs across every agency. That's a ratio of roughly 4 to 1.

If you compare just the Department of Defense ($886 billion base budget) to the Department of Education ($68 billion), the ratio jumps to 13 to 1. America spends more on military bands than it does on the National Endowment for the Arts.

Historical Trends: Guns vs. Books

Defense spending has remained remarkably stable as a share of GDP, hovering around 3.5%. Education spending at the federal level has actually grown faster in percentage terms since 2017, largely driven by COVID-era relief bills like ESSER funding.

*FY2021 education spending includes massive one-time COVID relief (ESSER funds). Strip that out and the ratio stays closer to 4-5x throughout the period.

But Wait — Most Education Spending Is Local

Here's what this comparison misses: 90% of K-12 education funding comes from state and local governments, not the federal government. Total U.S. spending on education (all levels of government) is about $1.1 trillion per year. The federal share is roughly 8-10% of that total.

So the comparison isn't quite as stark as it seems. America spends about $1.1 trillion on education (all levels) and $1.42 trillion on defense (almost entirely federal). But it does raise a question: if education is so important, why is the federal contribution so small?

What Does Defense Money Buy?

The $886 billion Pentagon base budget breaks down roughly as follows:

The biggest chunk — Operations & Maintenance — covers everything from fuel and food to training exercises and base operations. Procurement is where the big-ticket weapons systems live: F-35 fighters ($1.7 trillion lifetime cost), aircraft carriers ($13 billion each), and nuclear submarines.

The Audit Problem

The Pentagon has failed every audit since they began in 2018. In its most recent attempt, auditors couldn't account for over $3.8 trillion in assets. The Department of Defense is the only federal agency that has never passed a clean audit.

Meanwhile, the Department of Education — for all its flaws — can at least tell you where its $68 billion goes. Whether it's spent effectively is another question, but at least the books balance.

International Comparison

The U.S. spends more on defense than the next 10 countries combined. As a share of GDP, we spend 3.5% on defense — higher than any other NATO country except Poland and Greece. In education, the U.S. spends about average for OECD countries (about 5% of GDP across all levels of government).

The Bottom Line

America's spending priorities are clear: national defense is the top discretionary priority by a wide margin. Whether that's justified depends on your threat assessment and your view of government's proper role. What's harder to justify is the Pentagon's inability to account for how it spends nearly a trillion dollars a year.

If a school district couldn't pass an audit for six consecutive years, it would be taken over. The Pentagon just gets a bigger check.