PlainSpending

Pulaski County

$5.5B in FY2025 - a heavy absolute book at $13,660 per capita.

Arkansas · FIPS 05119

In FY2025, Pulaski County in Arkansas posted a dense absolute book of $5.5B ($13,660 per capita across 399,125 residents). That is 12.7% below the national average and 17.7% above the Arkansas average. Social Security Administration leads tracked agency share. Statewide per-capita rank: #5 of 75.

Total spending
$5.5B
Per capita
$13,660
vs. national avg
-12.7%
Fiscal year
FY2025

Heavy absolute federal book

Pulaski County sits #126 of 3,224 counties by total obligations ($5.5B).

Heavy absolute federal book

Pulaski County posts top-10% federal per-capita spending nationally, with spending dominated by Social Security Administration.

National per-capita rank
Top 10%
of 3,232 US counties
Per-capita spending
$13,660
Leading agency
Social Security Administration
56.9% of tracked spending
Arkansas rank
#5 of 75

How Pulaski County Compares

Per-capita federal spending: Pulaski County vs. Arkansas and the nation

Pulaski County$13,660Arkansas avg$11,603National avg$15,647
Source: USASpending.gov FY2025 + U.S. Census Bureau population estimates.

Population: 399,125 (U.S. Census Bureau estimate) - the denominator behind the per-capita figures above.

Leading Federal Agencies in Pulaski County

Top awarding agencies in Pulaski County, FY2025

Social Security Administrati…$2.1BDepartment of Commerce$1.0BDepartment of Education$561.3M
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 $3.7B (67.9%) of Pulaski County's $5.5B 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 - Pulaski 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 $2.1B 56.9%
Department of Commerce $1.0B 27.9%
Department of Education $561.3M 15.2%

How Pulaski County Ranks Nationally

Per-capita federal spending vs. all US counties

All 3,232 US counties, FY2025

$13,660 Top 10% higher than 90% 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

Pulaski County Among Arkansas's Largest Counties

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

The 15 largest-population counties in Arkansas by FY2025 federal spending, plotted by population against spending per resident. Bubble size tracks total spending; Pulaski 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 0100,000200,000300,000400,000500,000 $4,000$6,000$8,000$10,000$12,000$14,000$16,000 Population Spending per capita ($)
The 15 largest-population counties in Arkansas by FY2025 federal spending, plotted by population against spending per resident. Bubble size tracks total spending; Pulaski County is highlighted.
Read the chart as a table
County Population Per capita Total spending
Pulaski County (this county) 399,125 $13,660 $5.5B
Benton County 284,333 $5,417 $1.5B
Washington County 245,871 $5,609 $1.4B
Sebastian County 127,799 $7,291 $931.8M
Faulkner County 123,498 $6,069 $749.6M
Saline County 123,416 $7,103 $876.6M
Craighead County 111,231 $6,684 $743.4M
Garland County 100,180 $9,850 $986.8M
White County 76,822 $7,251 $557.0M
Lonoke County 74,015 $7,351 $544.1M
Jefferson County 67,260 $8,884 $597.6M
Pope County 63,381 $7,208 $456.9M
Crawford County 60,133 $7,641 $459.5M
Crittenden County 48,163 $6,834 $329.1M
Greene County 45,736 $6,634 $303.4M

Nearby Counties With Similar Federal Spending

Counties with per-capita federal spending closest to Pulaski County's $13,660 - prioritizing Arkansas peers first.

Arkansas County

Arkansas

$14,037 per capita

$240.7M total

Woodruff County

Arkansas

$14,887 per capita

$93.3M total

Monroe County

Arkansas

$11,368 per capita

$77.3M total

Baxter County

Arkansas

$11,000 per capita

$457.9M total

Prairie County

Arkansas

$10,327 per capita

$85.5M total

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

Nationwide counties with similar per-capita or total federal spending

Two peer sets outside Arkansas - 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 ($13,660 here).

Similar total federal spending

Nearest out-of-state counties by total obligations ($5.5B 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 →