Washington has spiralled into a moment of uncertainty as hundreds and thousands of federal workers have been furloughed, and many essential workers are going to work without pay. All this is because the US government has shut down.

But this is not the first time the US government has shut down . The shutdown, which came into effect on October 1, 2025, is the 15th US government shutdown since 1981. These shutdowns have cost the US government and taxpayers millions of dollars.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) warned that nearly 750,000 federal employees could be furloughed and that the total daily cost of their compensation would be roughly $400 million.

Here we list all the US government shutdowns in the past, mention the longest one and the cost of these US government shutdowns

See Full Page