About 500metrics

Text on this page was drafted with AI tools; every figure is computed by code from the cited official source.

500metrics is a public reference desk for US government finance. It publishes dated numbers about the US Treasury: every note and bond auction graded against the auctions before it, the room left under the debt limit, Treasury cash, debt coming due by month and the interest the government pays. Every number shows when it happened, when the government published it, when we last checked it, where it comes from and how we calculated it.

The site is built for people who need a number they can quote: reporters, researchers, students, analysts and anyone who wants to check a claim about the federal debt. It is not a trading service, and it does not tell anyone what to do with their money.

What the name means

500metrics keeps a numbered list of no more than 500 headline figures about public money, one row per figure, each with a date, a source and a method. The list is public at Metrics. A figure can be retired, but its number is never given to another figure. The count shown on the site is always the real count, not the ceiling.

500metrics is independent and is not affiliated with S&P Dow Jones Indices, Fortune or any index provider. S&P 500 is a registered trademark of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC.

Who publishes it

500metrics is an independent publication and is published under its own name. Write to hello@500metrics.com about anything on the site: a number you think is wrong, a source we should add, a request about your personal data, or a legal matter. We read every message. We answer questions about the data and how it is made; we do not answer questions about what any reader should do with their money (see Disclaimer ).

Who we are not

500metrics is not part of, and is not approved by, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Congressional Budget Office or any other government body. We republish and calculate from their public data, and we credit them on every page that uses it. We use no government seals or emblems.

How the site is paid for

The site is free to read, with no account and no paywall. It carries no advertising, no sponsored content and no affiliate links, and it sets no cookies. If any of that ever changes, this page will say so before the change goes live, and anything paid for will be labelled where it appears.

Our independence rules

These rules bind 500metrics and every person or system that can change what the site publishes.

1. No money for coverage. We take no payment, gift or favour from any company, government, bank, dealer, fund manager or issuer of securities to cover, leave out or describe anything in a particular way. This rule has no exceptions.
2. The same page for everyone. Every reader sees the same numbers and the same words. Nothing on the site is tailored to a reader's money, goals or circumstances.
3. No advice, one to one or otherwise. We publish facts, counts, dates and stated formulas. We do not say whether a security is cheap or dear, forecast prices or yields, or suggest any trade.
4. Fixed methods. Every calculation is described at Methodology, and any change to a method is dated there before it takes effect on a page.
5. Mistakes in the open. Errors are corrected and logged at Corrections.

How the site is made, and where AI is used

The numbers on 500metrics are computed by code from official data and published automatically, with the dates shown on each page. No person types or edits a number by hand. Before a reading goes live, our code checks it against the government's own published totals; a reading that fails the check is held back and the page keeps its last good reading, marked with its date.

The explanatory text on the site, including this page, was drafted with AI tools and is maintained by the publisher, who reads the live site and answers for everything on it. Pages whose prose was drafted this way carry the line: "Text on this page was drafted with AI tools; every figure is computed by code from the cited official source." The sentences that state a number on each data page are fixed templates filled in by code, not text written by an AI model.

Contact

hello@500metrics.com