In 2019, the interest on the national debt was $567 billion, or 8.9 times the cost of food stamps. These interest payments cost each household in the U.S. an average of $4,411 in 2019. Measured as a portion of federal revenues, interest costs are currently low compared to previous decades because the average interest rate on the national debt is now less than half of its historical average. However, the Congressional Budget Office "anticipates that those payments will increase considerably as interest rates return to more typical levels."