PlainSpending

Pennington County

$119.8M in FY2025 - a thin absolute book at $8,561 per capita.

Minnesota · FIPS 27113

In FY2025, Pennington County carried a thin absolute book of $119.8M - $8,561 per capita for 13,992 residents. Intensity sits 45.3% below the national average (-79.8% vs Minnesota). Leading tracked agency: Social Security Administration. Per-capita rank in-state: #42/87.

Total spending
$119.8M
Per capita
$8,561
vs. national avg
-45.3%
Fiscal year
FY2025

Thin absolute federal book

Pennington County is a light absolute book: #2183 of 3,224 with only $119.8M.

Thin absolute federal book

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

National per-capita rank
Top 42%
of 3,232 US counties
Per-capita spending
$8,561
Leading agency
Social Security Administration
72.7% of tracked spending
Minnesota rank
#42 of 87

How Pennington County Compares

Per-capita federal spending: Pennington County vs. Minnesota and the nation

Pennington County$8,561Minnesota avg$42,425National avg$15,647
Source: USASpending.gov FY2025 + U.S. Census Bureau population estimates.

Population: 13,992 (U.S. Census Bureau estimate) - the denominator behind the per-capita figures above.

Leading Federal Agencies in Pennington County

Top awarding agencies in Pennington County, FY2025

Social Security Administrati…$69.3MDepartment of the Interior$16.5MDepartment of Agriculture$9.6M
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 $95.4M (79.7%) of Pennington County's $119.8M 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 - Pennington 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 $69.3M 72.7%
Department of the Interior $16.5M 17.2%
Department of Agriculture $9.6M 10.1%

How Pennington County Ranks Nationally

Per-capita federal spending vs. all US counties

All 3,232 US counties, FY2025

$8,561 Higher than most higher than 58% 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

Pennington County Among Minnesota's Largest Counties

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

The 16 largest-population counties in Minnesota by FY2025 federal spending, plotted by population against spending per resident. Bubble size tracks total spending; Pennington County is highlighted. 2×2 strategic matrix plotting 16 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 0500,0001,000,0001,500,000 $0$50,000$100,000$150,000$200,000 Population Spending per capita ($)
The 16 largest-population counties in Minnesota by FY2025 federal spending, plotted by population against spending per resident. Bubble size tracks total spending; Pennington County is highlighted.
Read the chart as a table
County Population Per capita Total spending
Hennepin County 1,281,565 $146,659 $188.0B
Ramsey County 552,352 $10,072 $5.6B
Dakota County 439,882 $12,334 $5.4B
Anoka County 363,887 $6,943 $2.5B
Washington County 267,568 $6,140 $1.6B
St. Louis County 200,231 $8,190 $1.6B
Olmsted County 162,847 $7,722 $1.3B
Stearns County 158,292 $7,023 $1.1B
Scott County 150,928 $4,955 $747.8M
Wright County 141,337 $5,446 $769.7M
Carver County 106,922 $5,677 $607.0M
Sherburne County 97,183 $14,241 $1.4B
Blue Earth County 69,112 $6,487 $448.3M
Rice County 67,097 $6,213 $416.9M
Crow Wing County 66,123 $8,931 $590.5M
Pennington County (this county) 13,992 $8,561 $119.8M

Nearby Counties With Similar Federal Spending

Counties with per-capita federal spending closest to Pennington County's $8,561 - prioritizing Minnesota peers first.

Renville County

Minnesota

$8,573 per capita

$126.2M total

Becker County

Minnesota

$8,656 per capita

$304.6M total

Freeborn County

Minnesota

$8,705 per capita

$268.9M total

Pope County

Minnesota

$8,414 per capita

$95.1M total

Clearwater County

Minnesota

$8,717 per capita

$74.3M total

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

Nationwide counties with similar per-capita or total federal spending

Two peer sets outside Minnesota - 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 ($8,561 here).

Similar total federal spending

Nearest out-of-state counties by total obligations ($119.8M 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 →