PlainSpending

Harris County

$25.7B in FY2025 - a heavy absolute book at $5,433 per capita.

Texas · FIPS 48201

In FY2025, Harris County in Texas posted a dense absolute book of $25.7B ($5,433 per capita across 4,731,145 residents). That is 65.3% below the national average and 49.2% below the Texas average. Social Security Administration leads tracked agency share. Statewide per-capita rank: #230 of 254.

Total spending
$25.7B
Per capita
$5,433
vs. national avg
-65.3%
Fiscal year
FY2025

Heavy absolute federal book

Harris County sits #24 of 3,224 counties by total obligations ($25.7B).

Heavy absolute federal book

Harris County posts below-median federal per-capita spending nationally, with spending dominated by Social Security Administration.

National per-capita rank
Top 96%
of 3,232 US counties
Per-capita spending
$5,433
Leading agency
Social Security Administration
69.3% of tracked spending
Texas rank
#230 of 254

How Harris County Compares

Per-capita federal spending: Harris County vs. Texas and the nation

Harris County$5,433Texas avg$10,686National avg$15,647
Source: USASpending.gov FY2025 + U.S. Census Bureau population estimates.

Population: 4,731,145 (U.S. Census Bureau estimate) - the denominator behind the per-capita figures above.

Leading Federal Agencies in Harris County

Top awarding agencies in Harris County, FY2025

Social Security Administrati…$15.3BDepartment of Veterans Affai…$4.3BDepartment of Defense$2.4B
Source: USASpending.gov FY2025, aggregated by awarding agency.

Among the 3,224 US counties with agency-level spending data, Social Security Administration is the most common leading agency nationally, topping 89.7% of agency-tracked counties.

These 3 agencies together account for $22.1B (85.9%) of Harris County's $25.7B 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 - Harris County 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
Social Security Administration $15.3B 69.3%
Department of Veterans Affairs $4.3B 19.6%
Department of Defense $2.4B 11.1%

How Harris County Ranks Nationally

Per-capita federal spending vs. all US counties

All 3,232 US counties, FY2025

$5,433 Among the lowest higher than 4% 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

Harris County Among Texas's Largest Counties

Population vs. per-capita spending: Texas's biggest counties

The 15 largest-population counties in Texas by FY2025 federal spending, plotted by population against spending per resident. Bubble size tracks total spending; Harris County is highlighted. 2×2 strategic matrix plotting 15 entities by Population (X) and Spending per capita ($) (Y), with a crosshair dividing the plot into four quadrants. Large and spending-intensiveSmall population, outsized spendingLarge population, modest per-residentSmaller footprint both ways 01,000,0002,000,0003,000,0004,000,0005,000,000 $0$5,000$10,000$15,000$20,000$25,000 Population Spending per capita ($)
The 15 largest-population counties in Texas by FY2025 federal spending, plotted by population against spending per resident. Bubble size tracks total spending; Harris County is highlighted.
Read the chart as a table
County Population Per capita Total spending
Harris County (this county) 4,731,145 $5,433 $25.7B
Dallas County 2,613,539 $13,618 $35.6B
Tarrant County 2,110,640 $20,556 $43.4B
Bexar County 2,009,324 $8,940 $18.0B
Travis County 1,290,188 $12,831 $16.6B
Collin County 1,064,465 $5,934 $6.3B
Denton County 906,422 $4,917 $4.5B
Hidalgo County 870,781 $7,211 $6.3B
El Paso County 865,657 $6,774 $5.9B
Fort Bend County 822,779 $6,138 $5.1B
Montgomery County 620,443 $8,004 $5.0B
Williamson County 609,017 $8,655 $5.3B
Cameron County 421,017 $5,886 $2.5B
Brazoria County 372,031 $6,072 $2.3B
Bell County 370,647 $11,862 $4.4B

Nearby Counties With Similar Federal Spending

Counties with per-capita federal spending closest to Harris County's $5,433 - prioritizing Texas peers first.

Liberty County

Texas

$5,434 per capita

$497.9M total

Titus County

Texas

$5,444 per capita

$170.1M total

Caldwell County

Texas

$5,394 per capita

$247.5M total

Garza County

Texas

$5,487 per capita

$31.9M total

Nolan County

Texas

$5,377 per capita

$79.2M total

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

Nationwide counties with similar per-capita or total federal spending

Two peer sets outside Texas - 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 ($5,433 here).

Similar total federal spending

Nearest out-of-state counties by total obligations ($25.7B 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 →