The True Cost of Nuclear Weapons: Updated Community Cost Calculator April 24, 2025

During PSR’s April Month of Action, on Tax Day we spotlighted a newly updated resource from PSR-LA’s Co-President Dr. Bob Dodge.

On April 15th, Dr. Bob Dodge released the Community Cost Calculator, a tool that exposes just how much of your hard-earned money goes toward maintaining and expanding the U.S. nuclear arsenal. In Fiscal Year 2025, the U.S. spent more than $110 billion on nuclear weapons — that’s $324.43 per person. In Los Angeles County alone, taxpayers contributed more than $3.2 billion to these programs.

These expenditures are just a fraction of an even more alarming trend. The proposed FY26 federal budget would increase total defense spending to $1 trillion. Meanwhile, critical social programs like Medicaid face threats in Congress, and long-standing public health and environmental needs are critically underfunded.

Nuclear weapons are not tools of safety — they are instruments of mass destruction. The communities most impacted by these harmful budget priorities are the same ones already burdened by inadequate healthcare, underfunded schools, environmental injustice, and a lack of basic infrastructure.

Throughout April, PSR has been mobilizing our network to demand that Congress reallocate tax dollars toward solutions that truly protect and strengthen our communities.

You can take action by using the Community Cost Calculator to see how much your community contributes to nuclear weapons, writing to your Representative and urging them to oppose wasteful and dangerous nuclear weapons spending, and spreading the word in your networks and advocating for reinvestment in programs that improve people’s lives.