COST TO BE HUMAN
OUR MISSION
Cost to Be Human exists to reveal how public money, policies, and institutional choices shape the conditions of everyday life. We follow the money, center the lived experiences behind the numbers, challenge misleading narratives with credible evidence, and recognize the people building more humane alternatives. Our mission is to help people see the systems affecting them clearly—so they can question what has been accepted, understand what is possible, and participate in creating a society that values human dignity.
SOURCING STANDARDS
We prioritize original Treasury accounting, enacted laws, official program data, oversight reports and published evaluations. Sources are linked alongside the claims they support. Personal accounts are attributed to the speaker, venue and date; they are not national outcome evidence. Historical roles are not presented as current employment. No testimony, interview or person is invented.
REPORTING PERIODS
A federal fiscal year runs October 1–September 30. FY2024 and FY2025 ledger figures are completed-year actuals. FY2026 is preliminary October 2025–August 2026, excludes September, and may be revised. Calendar years, award years and historical study periods retain their own labels. Forecasts and counterfactual estimates are distinct from observed results.
ACCOUNTING & CORRECTIONS
Budget functions are nonoverlapping accounting categories; everyday topics may span them. Health and Medicare are separate functions; Medicaid is within Health. Program and department totals are not added to function totals. Signed offsets are retained, and the ledger explains rounding reconciliation. FY2025 opening receipts were corrected to $5.23T from Treasury’s $5.234617T actual. When evidence changes, corrections should state what changed, the source and the date.
EVIDENCE LIMITATIONS
Spending alone does not establish effectiveness. Existing gaps include comprehensive payment-recipient rankings, causal FY2025 household outcomes and local access results. Dated testimony is not a current interview. Some official sites restrict automated access; original official material read through the research browser is retained with its provenance. No claim is strengthened to fill a gap. This edition’s source review is dated October 6, 2026; unresolved source checks are not treated as verified.
Figures reflect the cited sources and reporting periods. Preliminary data may be revised, and rounded amounts may not sum exactly. We correct confirmed errors and document material changes.