2026 Nuclear Weapons Programs Tax Calculator

Every April, Dr. Bob Dodge, Co-President of the Board of Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles (PSR-LA), calculates the full cost of all nuclear weapons programs to our communities. PSR-LA is a Coalition Partner of Back from the Brink.

For FY 2026 (Tax Year 2025), the total U.S. nuclear weapons programs expenditure was $137,230,000,000. That’s more than 137 BILLION DOLLARS.

This is roughly a 24% increase from the previous fiscal year. The significant increase in spending came from an uptick in Department of Defense nuclear spending and funding for President Trump’s “Golden Dome” project.

These are tax dollars much better spent on human needs. Now more than ever, we must change our national priorities and invest in critical needs for our survival, not deadly weapons that must never be used. You can also learn how to calculate costs for your community, see resources and references, and learn more about the project below.

Note from Dr. Dodge: These numbers represent the best estimate possible of costs related to nuclear weapons expenditures with publicly available data. Following last summer’s “Big Beautiful Bill” and ongoing federal dysfunction, the budgetary process has been plagued with continuing resolution, “mandatory funding,” and “reconciliation funding” that come after the budget had been signed. In addition, the usual teasing out of the figures between the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and U.S. Space Force adds to the challenge of determining accurate numbers.

Below, you’ll find a table with FY 2026 tax costs for major cities, counties, and states in the United States. The table is first sorted by the state column, and secondarily by city, county, and state by the location column.

TABLE LEGEND
NAE – National Average Expense
POP – Population
PCI – Per Capita Income (specific to location)
FI – Federal Income (per capita)
PCIM – Per Capita Income Modifier (specific to location)
PCNT – Per Capita “Nuclear Tax” (specific to location)
NE – Nuclear Expense (specific to location)

CALCULATE YOUR INDIVIDUAL OR COMMUNITY NUCLEAR WEAPONS COST

Individual Tax Costs

In 2025, the average cost of nuclear weapons development to every individual in the United States was $401.51. This is based on a national per capita average annual income of $44,671. If your income is different from this, you can calculate your income modifier by dividing your income by the national average. For example, your income / $44,671 = your modifier. Multiply this modifier by $401.51 to get your tax contribution to nuclear weapons programs this year. 

Community Tax Costs

You can calculate the cost of nuclear arms to your community using the following formula:

$401.51 x PCIM x your population = community cost

To determine PCIM (per capita income multiplier) for your community, refer to this U.S. Census table. To find the per capita income for your community, divide by national per capita income ($44,671) – i.e. average per capita income in your community divided by national per capita average ($44,671) = PCIM for your community. Population figures for your community can also be found in this U.S. Census table.

RESOURCES TO CALCULATE THE COSTS OF FY 2026 NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAMS

• FY ‘26 DoE/NNSA ($38.63 billion) – nuclear weapons activities and defense environmental cleanup (pg. 9)
  • Included (highlights):
    • $20.4 billion for weapons activities
    • $3.8 billion for plutonium pit modernization
    • $2.5 billion for nuclear non-proliferation
    • $7.4 billion for environmental cleanup
    • $555 million for salaries/expenses (pg. 5)
• FY ’26 DoD ($62 billion) – nuclear weapons spending
  • FY ’26 – NC3 (Nuclear Communications, Command & Control) – included in $62 billion DoD funds
  • FY ’26 DTRA (Defense Threat Reduction Agency) – $708 million (pg. 2) included in DoD funds
  • FY ’26 CTR (Cooperative Threat Reduction) – $282.8 million – included in $38.63 billion DoE funds (see first bullet point)
• FY ’26 Missile Defeat & Defense ($36.6 billion)
  • Missile Defense Agency (MDA) – $13.2 billion (table 5)
  • Golden Dome – $23.4 billion (pg. 6)
    • Additional Golden Dome sources:
      • “Golden Dome Project Receives $10 Billion More Funding” from Association of Defense Communities (ADC)
      • “Golden Dome budget plan gets $10B plus-up to accelerate space capabilities” from Defense Scoop
• U.S. Census data

Not included in calculation:

• FY ‘26 – Nuclear Black Budget
• FY ‘26 – RECA (estimates up to $15 billion annually for 10 years)

ABOUT PSR-LA’S NUCLEAR WEAPONS COST PROGRAM

Nuclear weapons threaten us every moment of every day. The threat is higher now than at any point since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki over 80 years ago. While most reasonable individuals recognize that these weapons cannot and must not ever be used, over 12,400 weapons remain in the nuclear arsenals of the world. We also know that the use of even a tiny fraction (<0.5%) of these weapons over a single populated region would cause catastrophic climate change resulting in a global famine putting potentially 2 billion people at risk. These weapons also threaten us by robbing our communities of precious resources that could be redirected to the many needs that our communities cry out for.

This Nuclear Weapons Cost Program, now in its 37th year, attempts to determine the full cost of all nuclear weapons programs to our communities. There have been many excellent calculations of portions of our nuclear weapons costs, including the ICAN report on global costs. These reports deal primarily with the cost of warheads and delivery systems development alone in an attempt to compare one nation to another. 

In our report, we include verifiable costs of all nuclear programs that would not be spent if nuclear weapons did not exist. These include funding the nuclear missile defense system, environmental cleanup, and legacy programs dealing with communities that have been contaminated by the mining, development, testing, and stockpiling of these weapons. Also included is nuclear nonproliferation funding and funding to safeguard and sequester nuclear weapons in Russia and the former Soviet Union States.

Determining the full cost of U.S. nuclear weapons programs is a tedious process as the United States is not fully transparent in these figures. We have chosen to list only figures that we can provide reference to. In 2013, with the release of the “Black Budget” by Edward Snowden, it was estimated that there were some $9 billion in “top secret” nuclear operations that were never publicly released. That year, the U.S. “Black Budget” was $52.6 billion. This year’s U.S. Intelligence Committee “Black Budget” is in excess of $81.9 billion. While likely still being funded, it has become impossible to track nuclear expenditures, and thus, there is no inclusion herein.

This fiscal year finds our nation facing challenges with an administration that is disrupting many established institutions designed to promote the health, safety and wellbeing of our people when so many still struggle just to make ends meet. The effects of these cuts are felt especially in economically disadvantaged communities and communities of color. The very existence of nuclear weapons is an economic, environmental, social, and racial justice issue. As our country struggles with these realities, it is our hope that this project will provide assistance to communities across our nation attempting to address these inequities together. We invite your comments and questions about our program.