Top Counties by Federal Spending
Top 100 U.S. counties ranked by total federal spending received.
County-level federal spending concentrates wherever federal facilities sit, large military installations, federal research labs, and major contractor campuses. The top of this table is dominated by counties that host these facilities, not by counties with the largest populations. That distinction matters when reading the per-capita column.
County attribution comes from contractor place-of-performance reporting in USASpending.gov. Awards reported only at the state or national level (such as agency-wide direct payments) are excluded from county totals to avoid double-counting. As a result, county sums will not match state totals exactly, that gap is a property of the underlying ledger, not a calculation error.
Population denominators use the latest U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates. For a methodology note on why per-capita figures can swing dramatically in low-population counties hosting a single large contract, see our methodology page.
| # | County | State | Total Spending | Per Capita | Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hennepin County | Minnesota | $188.0B | $146,659 | 1,281,565 |
| 2 | Marion County | Indiana | $143.8B | $147,172 | 977,203 |
| 3 | Jefferson County | Kentucky | $122.1B | $155,985 | 782,969 |
| 4 | Cumberland County | Pennsylvania | $106.3B | $409,868 | 259,469 |
| 5 | Cass County | North Dakota | $89.3B | $483,874 | 184,525 |
| 6 | Richland County | South Carolina | $80.2B | $192,829 | 416,147 |
| 7 | Los Angeles County | California | $80.1B | $7,997 | 10,014,009 |
| 8 | Dane County | Wisconsin | $54.4B | $96,863 | 561,504 |
| 9 | Maricopa County | Arizona | $49.7B | $11,249 | 4,420,568 |
| 10 | Hillsborough County | Florida | $48.7B | $33,387 | 1,459,762 |
| 11 | Fairfax County | Virginia | $47.8B | $41,553 | 1,150,309 |
| 12 | Davidson County | Tennessee | $46.3B | $64,625 | 715,884 |
| 13 | Tarrant County | Texas | $43.4B | $20,556 | 2,110,640 |
| 14 | Alameda County | California | $42.5B | $25,252 | 1,682,353 |
| 15 | District of Columbia | District Of Columbia | $39.7B | $57,580 | 689,545 |
| 16 | Duval County | Florida | $39.4B | $39,620 | 995,567 |
| 17 | Cook County | Illinois | $38.6B | $7,311 | 5,275,541 |
| 18 | Dallas County | Texas | $35.6B | $13,618 | 2,613,539 |
| 19 | San Diego County | California | $35.4B | $10,723 | 3,298,634 |
| 20 | Spotsylvania County | Virginia | $31.9B | $227,738 | 140,032 |
| 21 | New York County | New York | $31.2B | $18,405 | 1,694,251 |
| 22 | Middlesex County | Massachusetts | $25.8B | $15,809 | 1,632,002 |
| 23 | Allegheny County | Pennsylvania | $25.7B | $20,569 | 1,250,578 |
| 24 | Harris County | Texas | $25.7B | $5,433 | 4,731,145 |
| 25 | Miami-Dade County | Florida | $25.1B | $9,300 | 2,701,767 |
| 26 | Sacramento County | California | $23.4B | $14,781 | 1,585,055 |
| 27 | Orange County | California | $23.4B | $7,341 | 3,186,989 |
| 28 | Arlington County | Virginia | $22.8B | $95,369 | 238,643 |
| 29 | Wayne County | Michigan | $22.6B | $12,584 | 1,793,561 |
| 30 | Pima County | Arizona | $21.0B | $20,138 | 1,043,433 |
| 31 | St. Louis City | Missouri | $20.8B | $68,810 | 301,578 |
| 32 | King County | Washington | $20.7B | $9,117 | 2,269,675 |
| 33 | Montgomery County | Maryland | $18.0B | $16,975 | 1,062,061 |
| 34 | Bexar County | Texas | $18.0B | $8,940 | 2,009,324 |
| 35 | St. Louis County | Missouri | $17.0B | $16,891 | 1,004,125 |
| 36 | Orange County | Florida | $16.6B | $11,609 | 1,429,908 |
| 37 | Travis County | Texas | $16.6B | $12,831 | 1,290,188 |
| 38 | Madison County | Alabama | $15.6B | $40,217 | 388,153 |
| 39 | Clark County | Nevada | $15.6B | $6,874 | 2,265,461 |
| 40 | Riverside County | California | $14.8B | $6,140 | 2,418,185 |
| 41 | Philadelphia County | Pennsylvania | $14.0B | $8,758 | 1,603,797 |
| 42 | Pinellas County | Florida | $14.0B | $14,578 | 959,107 |
| 43 | Montgomery County | Pennsylvania | $13.9B | $16,199 | 856,553 |
| 44 | San Juan Municipio | Puerto Rico | $13.9B | $40,508 | 342,259 |
| 45 | Santa Clara County | California | $13.6B | $7,000 | 1,936,259 |
| 46 | Brevard County | Florida | $13.4B | $22,151 | 606,612 |
| 47 | Leon County | Florida | $13.2B | $45,184 | 292,198 |
| 48 | Honolulu County | Hawaii | $13.2B | $12,940 | 1,016,508 |
| 49 | Wake County | North Carolina | $12.9B | $11,428 | 1,129,410 |
| 50 | San Bernardino County | California | $12.6B | $5,778 | 2,181,654 |
| 51 | Suffolk County | Massachusetts | $12.5B | $15,681 | 797,936 |
| 52 | Fulton County | Georgia | $12.2B | $11,476 | 1,066,710 |
| 53 | Bernalillo County | New Mexico | $12.1B | $17,868 | 676,444 |
| 54 | Suffolk County | New York | $11.7B | $7,699 | 1,525,920 |
| 55 | Virginia Beach City | Virginia | $11.7B | $25,372 | 459,470 |
| 56 | Franklin County | Ohio | $11.2B | $8,478 | 1,323,807 |
| 57 | Essex County | Massachusetts | $11.2B | $13,851 | 809,829 |
| 58 | Palm Beach County | Florida | $11.2B | $7,502 | 1,492,191 |
| 59 | Oakland County | Michigan | $10.9B | $8,534 | 1,274,395 |
| 60 | Baltimore City | Maryland | $10.9B | $18,533 | 585,708 |
| 61 | Nassau County | New York | $10.7B | $7,688 | 1,395,774 |
| 62 | Broward County | Florida | $10.5B | $5,396 | 1,944,375 |
| 63 | Oklahoma County | Oklahoma | $10.4B | $13,070 | 796,292 |
| 64 | Prince George'S County | Maryland | $10.2B | $10,518 | 967,201 |
| 65 | Kings County | New York | $10.1B | $3,678 | 2,736,074 |
| 66 | St. Thomas Island | U.S. Virgin Islands | $10.1B | $237,831 | 42,261 |
| 67 | Monroe County | New York | $9.9B | $13,013 | 759,443 |
| 68 | Cuyahoga County | Ohio | $9.9B | $7,806 | 1,264,817 |
| 69 | Albany County | New York | $9.5B | $30,058 | 314,848 |
| 70 | Salt Lake County | Utah | $9.4B | $7,965 | 1,185,238 |
| 71 | Queens County | New York | $9.4B | $3,919 | 2,405,464 |
| 72 | Douglas County | Nebraska | $9.3B | $15,987 | 584,526 |
| 73 | El Paso County | Colorado | $9.3B | $12,676 | 730,395 |
| 74 | Erie County | New York | $9.1B | $9,584 | 954,236 |
| 75 | Dupage County | Illinois | $8.7B | $9,346 | 932,877 |
| 76 | Baltimore County | Maryland | $8.7B | $10,159 | 854,535 |
| 77 | Howard County | Maryland | $8.6B | $25,853 | 332,317 |
| 78 | San Francisco County | California | $8.5B | $9,698 | 873,965 |
| 79 | Anne Arundel County | Maryland | $8.4B | $14,340 | 588,261 |
| 80 | Multnomah County | Oregon | $8.3B | $10,147 | 815,428 |
| 81 | Jackson County | Missouri | $8.1B | $11,265 | 717,204 |
| 82 | Jefferson County | Alabama | $8.1B | $11,949 | 674,721 |
| 83 | Bergen County | New Jersey | $7.9B | $8,220 | 955,732 |
| 84 | Bronx County | New York | $7.8B | $5,314 | 1,472,654 |
| 85 | Macomb County | Michigan | $7.7B | $8,686 | 881,217 |
| 86 | Denver County | Colorado | $7.6B | $10,593 | 715,522 |
| 87 | Ingham County | Michigan | $7.4B | $25,899 | 284,900 |
| 88 | Lee County | Florida | $7.3B | $9,560 | 760,822 |
| 89 | Kent County | Michigan | $7.2B | $10,936 | 657,974 |
| 90 | Contra Costa County | California | $7.2B | $6,139 | 1,165,927 |
| 91 | Dekalb County | Georgia | $7.0B | $9,221 | 764,382 |
| 92 | Anderson County | Tennessee | $7.0B | $90,788 | 77,123 |
| 93 | Pierce County | Washington | $7.0B | $7,598 | 921,130 |
| 94 | Hamilton County | Ohio | $6.9B | $8,265 | 830,639 |
| 95 | Essex County | New Jersey | $6.9B | $7,934 | 863,728 |
| 96 | Cobb County | Georgia | $6.8B | $8,900 | 766,149 |
| 97 | Shelby County | Tennessee | $6.4B | $6,904 | 929,744 |
| 98 | Hamilton County | Tennessee | $6.4B | $17,351 | 366,207 |
| 99 | Jackson County | Mississippi | $6.4B | $44,329 | 143,252 |
| 100 | Collin County | Texas | $6.3B | $5,934 | 1,064,465 |
Highest Per-Capita Counties
Smaller counties hosting major federal facilities can show striking per-capita figures. Five examples from the dataset:
Methodology
County totals reflect place-of-performance federal awards from USASpending.gov (U.S. Treasury). Per-capita calculations use U.S. Census Bureau population estimates. County-level attribution is incomplete for some awards reported only at the state level. Read the full methodology →
Every figure on PlainSpending is computed directly from USASpending.gov award-transaction data, no number is typed in by an editor. This ranking sorts the top 100 counties by total federal spending, live from the dataset. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.