PlainSpending

Orange County

$23.4B in FY2025 - a heavy absolute book at $7,341 per capita.

California · FIPS 06059

In FY2025, Orange County in California posted a dense absolute book of $23.4B ($7,341 per capita across 3,186,989 residents). That is 53.1% below the national average and 40.2% below the California average. Social Security Administration leads tracked agency share. Statewide per-capita rank: #31 of 58.

Total spending
$23.4B
Per capita
$7,341
vs. national avg
-53.1%
Fiscal year
FY2025

Heavy absolute federal book

Orange County sits #27 of 3,224 counties by total obligations ($23.4B).

Heavy absolute federal book

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

National per-capita rank
Top 67%
of 3,232 US counties
Per-capita spending
$7,341
Leading agency
Social Security Administration
65.3% of tracked spending
California rank
#31 of 58

How Orange County Compares

Per-capita federal spending: Orange County vs. California and the nation

Orange County$7,341California avg$12,283National avg$15,647
Source: USASpending.gov FY2025 + U.S. Census Bureau population estimates.

Population: 3,186,989 (U.S. Census Bureau estimate) - the denominator behind the per-capita figures above.

Leading Federal Agencies in Orange County

Top awarding agencies in Orange County, FY2025

Social Security Administrati…$13.3BDepartment of Health and Hum…$5.6BDepartment of Defense$1.5B
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 $20.4B (87.2%) of Orange County's $23.4B 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 - Orange 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 $13.3B 65.3%
Department of Health and Human Services $5.6B 27.4%
Department of Defense $1.5B 7.3%

How Orange County Ranks Nationally

Per-capita federal spending vs. all US counties

All 3,232 US counties, FY2025

$7,341 Around the middle higher than 33% 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

Orange County Among California's Largest Counties

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

The 15 largest-population counties in California by FY2025 federal spending, plotted by population against spending per resident. Bubble size tracks total spending; Orange 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 05,000,00010,000,00015,000,000 $0$5,000$10,000$15,000$20,000$25,000$30,000 Population Spending per capita ($)
The 15 largest-population counties in California by FY2025 federal spending, plotted by population against spending per resident. Bubble size tracks total spending; Orange County is highlighted.
Read the chart as a table
County Population Per capita Total spending
Los Angeles County 10,014,009 $7,997 $80.1B
San Diego County 3,298,634 $10,723 $35.4B
Orange County (this county) 3,186,989 $7,341 $23.4B
Riverside County 2,418,185 $6,140 $14.8B
San Bernardino County 2,181,654 $5,778 $12.6B
Santa Clara County 1,936,259 $7,000 $13.6B
Alameda County 1,682,353 $25,252 $42.5B
Sacramento County 1,585,055 $14,781 $23.4B
Contra Costa County 1,165,927 $6,139 $7.2B
Fresno County 1,008,654 $4,949 $5.0B
Kern County 909,235 $6,502 $5.9B
San Francisco County 873,965 $9,698 $8.5B
Ventura County 843,843 $7,141 $6.0B
San Joaquin County 779,233 $5,595 $4.4B
San Mateo County 764,442 $5,783 $4.4B

Nearby Counties With Similar Federal Spending

Counties with per-capita federal spending closest to Orange County's $7,341 - prioritizing California peers first.

Lassen County

California

$7,373 per capita

$241.3M total

Santa Cruz County

California

$7,269 per capita

$2.0B total

Solano County

California

$7,432 per capita

$3.4B total

Alpine County

California

$7,229 per capita

$8.7M total

Lake County

California

$7,466 per capita

$508.9M total

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

Nationwide counties with similar per-capita or total federal spending

Two peer sets outside California - 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 ($7,341 here).

Similar total federal spending

Nearest out-of-state counties by total obligations ($23.4B 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 →