How much federal spending did District of Columbia, District Of Columbia receive?

District of Columbia posted a heavy absolute book of $39.7B in FY2025 - $57,580 per capita across 689,545 residents.

How does District of Columbia's per capita spending compare to the national average?

District of Columbia's $57,580 sits 268.0% above the $15,647 national average; vs District Of Columbia average $70,928 it is 18.8% below.

What is the population of District of Columbia, District Of Columbia?

Census estimates put District of Columbia at 689,545 residents, the denominator behind a high $57,580 intensity.

District of Columbia

$39.7B in FY2025 - a heavy absolute book at $57,580 per capita.

District Of Columbia · FIPS 11001

Compiled by PlainSpending

Data updated September 2025

In FY2025, District of Columbia in District Of Columbia posted a dense absolute book of $39.7B ($57,580 per capita across 689,545 residents). That is 268.0% above the national average and 18.8% below the District Of Columbia average. Department of Defense leads tracked agency share.

Total spending: $39.7B
Per capita: $57,580
vs. national avg: +268.0%
Fiscal year: FY2025

Heavy absolute federal book

District of Columbia sits #15 of 3,224 counties by total obligations ($39.7B).

Heavy absolute federal book

District of Columbia posts top-1% federal per-capita spending nationally, with spending led by Department of Defense, among several agencies.

National per-capita rank: Top 1%; of 3,232 US counties
Per-capita spending: $57,580
Leading agency: Department of Defense; 46.2% of tracked spending

Understanding District of Columbia's federal spending

Dense absolute book vs. peers

USASpending.gov (Treasury) records $39.7B in FY2025 place-of-performance awards for District of Columbia, District Of Columbia (FIPS 11001) - a dense absolute book at $57,580 across 689,545 Census-estimated residents. That intensity is 268.0% above the $15,647 national average.

Inside District Of Columbia ($48.9B statewide / $70,928 per capita), District of Columbia's high $57,580 sits 18.8% below the state average.

Spending concentration

A single county rarely dominates a state's federal-spending total, but District of Columbia is the exception here, pulling in 81.2% of every dollar District Of Columbia received statewide, a concentration usually tied to a major base, medical center, or federal facility.

Reading this number carefully

A per-capita figure this far from the norm is worth a second look before drawing conclusions. Nationally, county-level federal spending concentrates around a small number of drivers: a major military installation, a large VA medical center or federal hospital, a national laboratory, a federal prison, or a small resident population inflating an otherwise ordinary per-capita number. The dataset records dollars by place of performance only, it does not identify which of these applies to District of Columbia, so this figure is best read as a prompt for further research rather than a stand-alone measure of local prosperity or federal favoritism. Readers comparing District of Columbia to neighboring counties should also check population size before assuming the gap reflects total dollars rather than a small denominator.

Federal spending is attributed by place of performance, not recipient headquarters. See our methodology for the full population-source, attribution, and data-vintage rules.

How District of Columbia Compares

Source: USASpending.gov FY2025 + U.S. Census Bureau population estimates.

Population: 689,545 (U.S. Census Bureau estimate) - the denominator behind the per-capita figures above.

Leading Federal Agencies in District of Columbia

Source: USASpending.gov FY2025, aggregated by awarding agency.

Among the 3,224 US counties with agency-level spending data, Department of Defense is a comparatively unusual leading agency, topping only 2.6% of agency-tracked counties nationally -- often a sign of a single large federal facility rather than broad-based spending.

These 3 agencies together account for $17.0B (42.8%) of District of Columbia's $39.7B in total tracked federal spending -- the remainder is spread across smaller awarding agencies not individually broken out in this dataset.

All 3 individually-tracked agencies are shown above - District of Columbia has no smaller residual awarding agencies broken out beyond this set, a compact agency footprint rather than a long tail of minor awardees.

Read the agency breakdown as a table

Agency	Spending	Share
Department of Defense	$7.8B	46.2%
Department of Transportation	$5.8B	33.9%
General Services Administration	$3.4B	19.9%

How District of Columbia Ranks Nationally

Per-capita federal spending vs. all US counties

All 3,232 US counties, FY2025

$57,580 Top 1% higher than 99% of 3,224 US counties

all US counties, per-capita spending, bucketed by value

Each bar is a $1K-wide band; taller bars hold more US counties. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source USASpending.gov FY2025 + U.S. Census Bureau population estimates

Nearby Counties With Similar Federal Spending

Counties with per-capita federal spending closest to District of Columbia's $57,580 - prioritizing District Of Columbia peers first.

Kalawao County

Hawaii

$54,992 per capita

$4.5M total

Nome Census Area

Alaska

$61,137 per capita

$614.2M total

Juneau City and Borough

Alaska

$52,249 per capita

$1.7B total

Davidson County

Tennessee

$64,625 per capita

$46.3B total

Lake and Peninsula Borough

Alaska

$49,763 per capita

$73.5M total

Compare states side-by-side in the compare tool →

Nationwide counties with similar per-capita or total federal spending

Two peer sets outside District Of Columbia - per-resident intensity and total obligation volume, distinct from the same-state neighbors above.

Similar per-capita spending

Nearest out-of-state counties by federal spending per resident ($57,580 here).

Nome Census Area, Alaska · $61,137
Juneau City and Borough, Alaska · $52,249
Davidson County, Tennessee · $64,625
Fairfax City, Virginia · $48,114

Similar total federal spending

Nearest out-of-state counties by total obligations ($39.7B here).

Counties with fewer than 10,000 residents are excluded from the nationwide comparison corpus.

Data Source: USASpending.gov (U.S. Department of the Treasury), Fiscal Year 2025. Population denominators are U.S. Census Bureau vintage estimates. County-level spending includes all federal awards with place of performance in this county; OMB budget categorizations are reflected at the agency level.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and presented.

Verify with USASpending.gov → Verify population with U.S. Census Bureau →

Compiled by PlainSpending, Federal Spending Editorial Process

District of Columbia

How District of Columbia Compares

Per-capita federal spending: District of Columbia vs. District Of Columbia and the nation

Leading Federal Agencies in District of Columbia

Top awarding agencies in District of Columbia, FY2025

How District of Columbia Ranks Nationally

Nearby Counties With Similar Federal Spending

Nationwide counties with similar per-capita or total federal spending

Similar per-capita spending

Similar total federal spending