Follow the flow › Step 3 of 16 · Money path
3. Treasury: where the money is held
Tax money goes into the government's bank account. For the U.S., that is the Treasury's account at the Federal Reserve. The money waits there until a law says it may be spent. Each state has its own treasury too, run by a state treasurer or comptroller.
Who holds the money or the vote here?
U.S. Department of the Treasury (federal); state treasurer or comptroller (state); county treasurer; city finance director.
How often does it happen?
Every day. Treasury reports its cash balance daily and totals monthly; the fiscal year runs October 1 to September 30 (most states: July 1 to June 30).
Where the records come from
Federal data is the same for everyone. When you pick a state, the state and local rows are the places to look for your state. "Have now" means PSI Sci already collects it; "Planned" means we list the source but do not collect it yet.
| Level | Source | Format | How often | On PSI Sci |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal | Monthly Treasury Statement (MTS) and Daily Treasury Statement (DTS) on FiscalData No key needed. Daily cash balance: Daily Treasury Statement | API | daily / monthly | Planned |
| State | State treasury / comptroller cash and fund reports (example: the Texas one) | page/bulk | monthly | Planned |
| County | County treasurer investment and fund reports; county annual financial report (ACFR) | quarterly / yearly | Planned | |
| City | City annual comprehensive financial report (ACFR) Many city and county ACFRs are posted on MSRB EMMA | yearly | Planned | |
| District | (no separate treasury: districts are areas, not governments) | - | - | Not used |
| ZIP | (no separate treasury) | - | - | Not used |
See these sources as searchable records (rendered live).
See it on PSI Sci now
Variable names
| Variable | Federal | State | County | City | District | ZIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
treasury_balance | fed_treasury_balance | st_treasury_balance | cnty_treasury_balance | cty_treasury_balance | dist_treasury_balance | zip_treasury_balance |
receipts | fed_receipts | st_receipts | cnty_receipts | cty_receipts | dist_receipts | zip_receipts |
outlays | fed_outlays | st_outlays | cnty_outlays | cty_outlays | dist_outlays | zip_outlays |
deficit | fed_deficit | st_deficit | cnty_deficit | cty_deficit | dist_deficit | zip_deficit |
fund_balance | fed_fund_balance | st_fund_balance | cnty_fund_balance | cty_fund_balance | dist_fund_balance | zip_fund_balance |
IDs (like bioguide_id, bill_id, piid, zcta) have no prefix because they already say what they point to.