The Trump administration’s deportation push costs the average American nearly $2,400 in taxes, according to analysis, money that could otherwise be spent on improving healthcare, housing and education.

A new tool from the Economic Policy Institute calculated how the $268.9 billion committed by the administration to fund President Donald Trump’s mass deportation and detention push would cost average American taxpayers $2,358.

The cost varies by region, with areas contributing more in federal income tax carrying a larger burden of the projected amount. Americans in Mississippi, for example, would pay $1,376 on average compared to $2,421 in Nevada, according to the calculator.

Instead of spending the money on deportations, the organization said the billions of dollars would be “better spent” on more school teachers, building public housing, enrolling more people on Medicaid, and increasing the availability of food stamps for low-income families.

“At a time when families across the country are struggling to afford housing, health care, and education, the Trump administration and its allies in Congress have been cutting support for basic needs and diverting huge sums of money to deportations,” the institute said.

“It is critical that we take into account the missed opportunities of funding a mass deportation regime, including the badly needed services being ignored or cut off to keep this policy funded and to keep immigrants living in fear.”

The funds could alternatively be used to provide more than 900,000 school teachers, one million firefighters and 717,070 nurses, enroll nearly 12 million people on Medicaid, create 9.7 million public housing units, and 118 million additional SNAP recipients, according to the institute.

It could also provide 6.2 million parents with 12 weeks of paid parental leave and give more than 5 million veterans medical care.

In Minnesota, where tensions have been particularly high over immigration enforcement after federal agents shot and killed two American citizens during protests, $4.4 billion in federal taxpayer dollars is being spent on detaining immigrants, according to the institute’s analysis.

“That means, on average, every household in the state is paying roughly $2,000 to track down, intimidate, detain or deport people,” the organization said.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said it was “ridiculous that investments to enforce the law are making headlines while the devastating consequences of breaking it went completely ignored under the Biden administration” when reached for comment by The Independent.

The spokesperson added that the deportation effort is saving the taxpayer money, and touted its Customs and Border Protection app encouraging migrants to self-deport.

“Through Project Homecoming, a cornerstone of President Trump’s immigration enforcement success, the United States is offering illegal aliens $2,600 and a free flight to self-deport now,” the spokesperson said. “Even with the new offer of a $2,600 stipend, the estimated cost of a single self-deportation via the CBP Home App is just $5,100, saving the American taxpayer over $13,000 per illegal alien.”

The billions of dollars the Trump administration has earmarked for deportations come from Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law last year, regular appropriations, and other repurposed funds.

According to data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, more than 350,000 people have been deported from the U.S. so far in fiscal year 2026, ABC News reports. The agency told Congress earlier this year that it plans to deport one million people in 2026 and 2027 and hold at least 99,000 people on any given day in detention centers.

It comes as the president and some of his most vocal allies are reportedly growing frustrated with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who took over from ousted Kristi Noem less than six months ago.