The Costs of the Manhattan Project
All figures in constant 1996 dollars
Expenditures through August 1945*
*Includes costs from 1940-42 for the National Defense Research council and the Office of Scientific Research and
Development. Excludes $76 million spent by the Army Air Forces on Project SILVERPLATE form September 1943 through September 1945. (Project SILVERPLATE covered the modification of 46 B-29 bombers in support of the Manhattan Project, trained the
personnel of the 509th composite bombing group, and provided logistical support for units based at Tinian Island, launching point for the attacks on Japan.)
Total cost for the Manhattan Project: $20 billion.
Comparison with Selected WWII Expenditures:
All bombs, mines and grenades: $31.5 billion
Small arms
material (not including ammunition): $24 billion
All tanks: $64 billion
Heavy field artillery: $4 billion
All other artillery: 33.6 billion
Atomic devices/bombs
produced and date detonated:
Alamogordo test device July 16, 1945
Little Boy August 6, 1945 Hiroshima
Fat Man August 9, 1945 Nagasaki
Bomb #4 unused
Average cost
per atomic device/bomb: $5 billion
Where did the money go?
Site/Project
Then Dollars Constant
1996 Dollars
Oak Ridge (total)
$1,188,352,000 $13,563,662,000
Hanford Engineer Works
$390,124,000 $4,453,470,000
Special Operating Materials
$103,369,000 $1,180,011,000
Los Alamos Project
$74,055,000 $845,377,000
Research and Development
$69,681,000 $795,445,000
Government Overhead
$37,255,000 $425,285,000
Heavy Water Plants
$26,768,000 $305,571,000
Grand Total
$1,889,604,000 $21,570,821,000