National Guard deployments to US cities cost almost half a billion dollars, says CBO

WASHINGTON — The deployment of National Guard and active-duty Marine forces to several US cities cost American taxpayers around $496 million in the last six months of 2025, according to an official government estimate.

And if those deployments were to continue at end-of-2025 sizes, it would cost approximately $93 million per month, according to a new estimate by Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Phillip Swagel.

The information was revealed in a letter sent in response to an inquiry by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D- Ore., the ranking member of the Senate Committee on the Budget. 

Furthermore, Swagel gave a general cost estimate of $18 million to $21 million per month for a 1,000 member National Guard deployment, stating that the exact cost depends on the cost-of-living in the city in which they are deployed to. 

Expenses were estimated based on factors such as pay and benefits when Guardsmen are deployed, lodging away from home stations, cost of food, and transportation for personnel. 

Over the second half of 2025, the Trump administration deployed the National Guard and Marines to six US cities: Los Angeles, California; Washington, D.C.; Memphis, Tennessee; Portland, Oregon; Chicago, Illinois; and New Orleans, Louisiana. The New Orleans deployment was not factored into the June-December estimate as it “occurred at the end of the year.” 

The future of domestic deployments was also left uncertain in the letter, with Swagel acknowledging legal barriers the Trump administration has faced in regard to the Guard presence in US cities.