The U.S. economy began to move forward once again, municipal debt continued its momentum, this maintained well into the early part of the twentieth century. The great depression of the 1930s halted growth, although defaults were not as severe as in the 1870s.[6] Outstanding municipal debt then fell during World War II. Many American resources were devoted to the military. Prewar municipal debt burst into a new period of rapid growth for an ever-increasing variety of uses. After World War II, state and local debt was $145 per capita. In 1998, according to the U.S. census, state debt was $1,791 per capita. Local per capita debt in 1996, the most current Census data available, was $2,704. Federal debt was $20,374 per capita at the end of 1998