Earnings Per Share (Details) (USD $) In Millions, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2013
Amounts attributable to McGraw Hill Financial, Inc. common shareholders:
Income from continuing operations	$ 188	$ 228	$ 716	$ 617
Income (loss) from discontinued operations	2	(13)	15	587
Net income	$ 190	$ 215	$ 731	$ 1,204
Basic weighted-average number of common shares outstanding (in shares)	270.9	272.8	271.4	275.8
Effect of stock options and other dilutive securities (in shares)	4.5	6.0	4.8	4.6
Diluted weighted-average number of common shares outstanding (in shares)	275.4	278.8	276.2	280.4
Income from continuing operations:
Basic (in dollars per share)	$ 0.69	$ 0.83	$ 2.64	$ 2.24
Diluted (in dollars per share)	$ 0.68	$ 0.82	$ 2.59	$ 2.20
Income from discontinued operations:
Basic (in dollars per share)	$ 0.01	$ (0.05)	$ 0.05	$ 2.13
Diluted (in dollars per share)	$ 0.01	$ (0.05)	$ 0.05	$ 2.09
Net income:
Basic (in dollars per share)	$ 0.70	$ 0.79	$ 2.69	$ 4.36
Diluted (in dollars per share)	$ 0.69	$ 0.77	$ 2.64	$ 4.29
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)			1.4	0.9
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		2.7