Earnings Per Share (Details) (USD $) In Millions, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2012
Amounts attributable to McGraw Hill Financial, Inc. common shareholders:
Income from continuing operations	$ 235	$ 151	$ 638	$ 486
(Loss) income from discontinued operations	(20)	163	566	167
Net income	$ 215	$ 314	$ 1,204	$ 653
Basic weighted-average number of common shares outstanding (in shares)	272.8	278.7	275.8	278.8
Effect of stock options and other dilutive securities (in shares)	6.0	5.9	4.6	5.8
Diluted weighted-average number of common shares outstanding (in shares)	278.8	284.6	280.4	284.6
Income from continuing operations:
Basic (in dollars per share)	$ 0.86	$ 0.54	$ 2.31	$ 1.74
Diluted (in dollars per share)	$ 0.84	$ 0.53	$ 2.27	$ 1.71
Income from discontinued operations:
Basic (in dollars per share)	$ (0.07)	$ 0.58	$ 2.05	$ 0.60
Diluted (in dollars per share)	$ (0.07)	$ 0.57	$ 2.02	$ 0.59
Net income:
Basic (in dollars per share)	$ 0.79	$ 1.13	$ 4.36	$ 2.34
Diluted (in dollars per share)	$ 0.77	$ 1.10	$ 4.29	$ 2.29
Restricted performance shares
Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share [Line Items]
Outstanding shares not included in the computation of diluted earnings per share (in shares)			0.9	2.7
Stock options
Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share [Line Items]
Outstanding shares not included in the computation of diluted earnings per share (in shares)	1.2	3.2	2.7	3.9