The human, budgetary, environmental, and social costs of U.S. wars and military operations, at home and abroad. Housed at Brown University's Watson School of International and Public Affairs at costsofwar.org.
The Costs of War Project
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Check out the Iran War Energy Cost Tracker from @watsonschoolbrown.bsky.social's Climate Solutions Lab. iranwarcost.watson.brown.edu
Since the Iran war began, U.S. consumers have paid an extra $54.9 billion, or over $418 per household, in fuel costs. www.newsweek.com/100-days-of-...
Annual U.S. military spending has grown significantly this century, as has the portion of the budget that goes to contractors: While 54% of the Pentagon’s average annual spending has gone to military contractors since 2020, during the 1990s, only 41% went to contractors.
Over the course of the war in Afghanistan (2001-2021), 24% of U.S. women service members and 1.9% of men experienced sexual assault.
Read the research, "Deserted: The U.S. Military's Sexual Assault Crisis as a Cost of War". costsofwar.watson.brown.edu/paper/desert...
Read the research, "Profits of War: Top Beneficiaries of Pentagon Spending, 2020 – 2024". costsofwar.watson.brown.edu/paper/profit...
Check out the Climate Solution Lab's Iran War Energy Cost tracker for the latest: iranwarcost.watson.brown.edu
Between August 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026, U.S. military operations in Venezuela, the Caribbean, and the Eastern Pacific — comprising Operation Southern Spear and Operation Absolute Resolve — cost U.S. taxpayers at least $4.7 billion.
costsofwar.watson.brown.edu/papers/boats...
"Energy prices were once again responsible for the increase in the consumer price index," notes reporting from The Guardian.
People in the U.S. have paid an extra $57 billion in fuel costs since the start of the war in Iran. www.theguardian.com/business/202...
"According to researchers at Brown University’s Watson School of International and Public Affairs, Americans have paid an additional $51.7 billion in gasoline and diesel costs since the conflict began on February 28, equivalent to nearly $400 per household." www.newsweek.com/5-signs-amer...
The fighting may have paused, but the global impact of war in the Middle East have not.
Political geographer Jennifer Greenburg (Assistant Professor, University of Sheffield) notes that, over the past decade, the U.S. military has implemented policies to promote gender equality, notably ...
Tracks the extra cost paid by U.S. consumers for gasoline and diesel since the Iran conflict began on February 28, 2026, compared against a no-war counterfactual baseline.
iranwarcost.watson.brown.edu
Policy analysts William D. Hartung (Senior Research Fellow, Quincy Institute) and Stephen Semler (Co-Founder, Security Policy Reform Institute) calculate that in five years, from 2020 to 2024, private...
