Troop deployments to US cities cost Americans nearly half a billion dollars in 2025, CBO report finds
FILE-Members of the National Guard stand outside Union Station on August 14, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
The Trump administration’s troop deployment to several major cities has cost taxpayers about $496 million at the end of 2025, according to new data from the Congressional Budget Office.
To gather data for the report, the CBO focused on three categories of costs: the costs to activate, deploy, and compensate National Guard personnel, the operational, logistical, and sustainment costs of maintaining those deployments, and additional direct or indirect costs with the use of National Guard or other military forces.
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President Donald Trump justified deploying National Guard troops into U.S. cities as part of an effort to curtail crime, while aiding local authorities.
The agency published data with the estimates linked to federal deployments of National Guard and active-duty Marines following a request from Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., who is the ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee.
What cities were National Guard troops deployed in?
Dig deeper:
The Trump administration has deployed National Guard troops or active-duty Marine Corps personnel since June 2025 to the following six cities:
- Los Angeles
- Washington, D.C.
- Chicago
- Portland, Oregon
- Memphis
- New Orleans
In the report, the CBO estimates troop deployments to Chicago, Memphis, Portland, and Los Angeles in June 2025 when protesters flooded streets to oppose immigration arrests. CBO officials noted that continued deployments to those areas would cost roughly $93 million per month. But the agency’s estimate excludes the military's December 2025 deployment to New Orleans.
And if there are more deployments this year, the CBO estimates deploying 1,000 National Guard personnel to a U.S. city in 2026 would cost $18 million to $21 million per month, depending on that city’s cost of living.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, Trump’s administration has also kept 200 National Guard personnel in Texas after they exited Chicago.
RELATED: Trump considers sending federal troops to New Orleans before Chicago
In a memo obtained by the Associated Press, National Guard troops are expected to remain deployed in Washington, D.C. throughout this year.
The Source: Information for this story was provided by a Congressional Budget Office report containing data on costs and the Associated Press. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.