Alabama Federal Spending

$14,242 per resident in FY2025, rank #24 per capita.

Data updated September 2025

$71.6B total · $14,242 per capita · FY2025 · Ranked #26 total, #24 per capita · 9.0% below national avg

In FY2025, Alabama received $71.6B in federal spending - $14,242 per capita, ranking #24 among 57 states and 9.0% below the national average. The most common award type is contracts, accounting for 53.2% of tracked awards. The top spending agency is Social Security Administration.

Alabama · FY2025

Alabama received $71.6B in federal spending in FY2025 - $14,242 per resident, 9.0% below the national average, with contracts the largest award category.

Total federal spending: $71.6B; #26 of 57 states
Per resident: $14,242; #24 per capita
Latest annual change: +$5.1B; FY2024 to FY2025 (+7.7%)
Top agency: Social Security Administration; $27.5B

Mid per-resident intensity

Alabama sits mid-band on per-capita spending (#23 of 56, $14,242).

According to USASpending.gov, Alabama received $71.6B in FY2025 ($14,242 per resident; population 5,024,279). Total rank #26 and per-capita rank #24 (9.0% below the $15,647 national average) show volume vs intensity.

The award-type mix by count: 77,728 contracts, 8,526 grants, 8,605 loans, and 45,859 direct payments. The most common award type is contracts at 53.2% of tracked awards in the state, with direct payments a distant second at 45,859 awards. Social Security Administration is the single largest federal agency operating in Alabama, with $27.5B in obligations - more than Department of Defense's $14.2B.

Over the available history, federal spending in Alabama has grown 12.8% from $63.5B in FY2020 to $71.6B in FY2025. Combined with 67 counties receiving dollars and top recipient Alabama Medicaid Agency at $6.6B, this snapshot lets readers judge whether Alabama's federal footprint is expanding, stable, or being scaled back.

Figures are award-transaction data from USASpending.gov (U.S. Department of the Treasury). See our methodology for per-capita denominators and award categories.

Source: USAspending.gov, Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) + System for Award Management (SAM) Alabama federal awards (contracts, grants, loans, direct payments) for FY2025 · 2025 Accessed 2025-09-30 USAspending.gov publishes award-level data within ~30 days of obligation; categories follow OMB Object Class Codes. Per-capita metrics use Census ACS population estimates as the denominator.

How does this state compare on intensity?

Total Spending

$71.6B

Rank #26

Per Capita

$14,242

Rank #24

Population

5,024,279

Contract Awards

77,728

Grant Awards

8,526

Total Federal Spending

$71.6B

FY2025 obligations

Per Capita

$14,242

Rank #24

Counties Receiving

federal dollars

Top Agency Share

$27.5B

Social Security Administration

Per-state share of tracked federal awards BY COUNT across major OMB-aligned award types (not a dollar-value breakdown). Mandatory-vs-discretionary marker reflects the entitlement-vs-appropriated split.

Alabama per-capita federal spending vs. national average 75.8%

National average

Compared against the national average of $15,647 per resident.

Awards by Type

Contracts is the most common award type at 53.2% of tracked awards in Alabama (by count, not dollar value).

Contracts 77,728 awards (53.2%)

Direct Payments 45,859 awards (31.4%)

Loans 8,605 awards (5.9%)

Grants 8,526 awards (5.8%)

Other 5,377 awards (3.7%)

Comparison to National Average

Metric	Alabama	National Avg	Difference
Per Capita Spending	$14,242	$15,647	-9.0%
Contracts Share	0.0%	-	-
Grants Share	0.0%	-	-

Top Federal Agencies in Alabama

Federal agencies ranked by total spending in Alabama during FY2025.

#	Agency	Spending	% of Total
1	Social Security Administration	$27.5B	38.4%
2	Department of Defense	$14.2B	19.8%
3	Department of Health and Human Services	$10.8B	15.0%
4	Department of Veterans Affairs	$5.3B	7.5%
5	Department of Agriculture	$2.8B	3.9%
6	National Aeronautics and Space Administration	$1.9B	2.7%
7	Department of Transportation	$1.8B	2.5%
8	Department of Education	$1.6B	2.2%
9	Department of Commerce	$1.5B	2.1%
10	Department of Homeland Security	$1.1B	1.5%

Top Recipients in Alabama

Organizations and entities receiving the most federal funds in Alabama.

#	Recipient	Total Awards
1	Alabama Medicaid Agency	$6.6B
2	Department of Human Resources Alabama	$2.3B
3	Economic and Community Affairs, Alabama Department Of	$1.7B
4	Lockheed Martin Corporation	$1.6B
5	The Boeing Company	$1.5B
6	Alabama Department of Transportation	$1.4B
7	Alabama State Department of Education	$1.2B
8	Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation	$891.9M
9	Austal USA, LLC	$738.0M
10	Defense Systems and Solutions	$673.1M
11	Dynetics, INC.	$632.1M
12	Science Applications International Corporation	$595.4M
13	Torch Technologies INC	$573.5M
14	M1 Support Services, L.p.	$553.0M

Spending Trends

The latest annual comparison is +$5.1B (+7.7%) from FY2024 to FY2025; this is a difference in recorded award obligations, not a claim about cause or local benefit. Federal spending in Alabama increased 12.8% from FY2020 to FY2025.

Fiscal Year	Total Spending	Per Capita	Population
FY2025	$71.6B	$14,242	5,024,279
FY2024	$66.4B	$13,219	5,024,279
FY2023	$64.3B	$12,792	5,024,279
FY2022	$60.8B	$12,099	5,024,279
FY2021	$70.3B	$13,983	5,024,279
FY2020	$63.5B	$12,629	5,024,279

Counties in Alabama

67 counties ranked by federal spending in FY2025.

#	County	Total Spending	Per Capita	Population
1	Madison County	$15.6B	$40,217	388,153
2	Jefferson County	$8.1B	$11,949	674,721
3	Montgomery County	$5.2B	$22,613	228,954
4	Mobile County	$4.8B	$11,632	414,809
5	Baldwin County	$2.2B	$9,605	231,767
6	Shelby County	$1.6B	$7,116	223,024
7	Tuscaloosa County	$1.6B	$6,840	227,036
8	Dale County	$1.4B	$28,656	49,326
9	Calhoun County	$1.2B	$10,261	116,441
10	Lee County	$1.2B	$6,646	174,241
11	Morgan County	$879.5M	$7,126	123,421
12	Houston County	$832.4M	$7,764	107,202
13	Etowah County	$805.9M	$7,791	103,436
14	Limestone County	$792.8M	$7,655	103,570
15	Lauderdale County	$730.2M	$7,804	93,564
16	St. Clair County	$720.7M	$7,911	91,103
17	Talladega County	$693.7M	$8,445	82,149
18	Elmore County	$663.6M	$7,543	87,977
19	Marshall County	$638.7M	$6,543	97,612
20	Cullman County	$629.2M	$7,161	87,866
21	Colbert County	$584.8M	$10,218	57,227
22	Russell County	$551.2M	$9,313	59,183
23	Walker County	$541.7M	$8,290	65,342
24	Coffee County	$515.1M	$9,635	53,465
25	Autauga County	$414.4M	$7,047	58,805
26	Jackson County	$403.5M	$7,674	52,579
27	Tallapoosa County	$389.2M	$9,422	41,311
28	Dekalb County	$379.2M	$5,296	71,608
29	Dallas County	$372.1M	$9,675	38,462
30	Blount County	$362.9M	$6,136	59,134
31	Chilton County	$330.1M	$7,332	45,014
32	Escambia County	$311.9M	$8,484	36,757
33	Covington County	$297.0M	$7,906	37,570
34	Chambers County	$273.7M	$7,870	34,772
35	Pike County	$258.8M	$7,840	33,009
36	Lawrence County	$231.2M	$6,991	33,073
37	Marion County	$228.9M	$7,800	29,341
38	Geneva County	$221.5M	$8,307	26,659
39	Macon County	$219.0M	$11,215	19,532
40	Cherokee County	$218.5M	$8,749	24,971
41	Barbour County	$200.9M	$7,966	25,223
42	Franklin County	$189.4M	$5,897	32,113
43	Randolph County	$186.9M	$8,506	21,967
44	Clarke County	$185.2M	$8,022	23,087
45	Winston County	$167.8M	$7,128	23,540
46	Marengo County	$157.8M	$8,167	19,323
47	Pickens County	$156.9M	$8,204	19,123
48	Monroe County	$156.8M	$7,930	19,772
49	Butler County	$155.5M	$8,161	19,051
50	Bibb County	$151.8M	$6,809	22,293
51	Henry County	$151.5M	$8,837	17,146
52	Cleburne County	$138.7M	$9,212	15,056
53	Washington County	$132.2M	$8,591	15,388
54	Hale County	$129.8M	$8,781	14,785
55	Sumter County	$127.5M	$10,324	12,345
56	Lamar County	$117.3M	$8,392	13,972
57	Fayette County	$114.2M	$6,994	16,321
58	Choctaw County	$108.8M	$8,591	12,665
59	Crenshaw County	$107.5M	$8,151	13,194
60	Clay County	$104.1M	$7,315	14,236
61	Conecuh County	$101.1M	$8,719	11,597
62	Coosa County	$96.5M	$9,292	10,387
63	Wilcox County	$94.7M	$8,931	10,600
64	Lowndes County	$94.2M	$9,138	10,311
65	Greene County	$87.8M	$11,358	7,730
66	Perry County	$69.9M	$8,215	8,511
67	Bullock County	$59.8M	$5,775	10,357

DOGE impact for Alabama → Per-capita rankings → Why spending varies by state →

States With Similar Per Capita Spending

States with per capita federal spending closest to Alabama's $14,242.

Montana

$14,143 per capita

$15.3B total

Nebraska

$14,140 per capita

$27.7B total

Rhode Island

$13,799 per capita

$15.1B total

Massachusetts

$14,689 per capita

$103.3B total

Vermont

$13,783 per capita

$8.9B total

Compare Alabama to another state side-by-side →

States with similar total federal spending

Nearest nationwide peers by total obligation volume ($71.6B here) - a different axis from the per-capita neighbors above.

Colorado · $70.2B total · $12,155 per capita
Louisiana · $59.8B total · $12,840 per capita
Oregon · $57.2B total · $13,499 per capita
Washington · $89.5B total · $11,619 per capita

Frequently Asked Questions

Where does Alabama rank nationally in federal spending?

Alabama ranks #26 out of 57 states in total federal spending and #24 in per capita spending. The state received $71.6B total ($14,242 per person) in FY2025.

Which federal agencies spend the most in Alabama?

The top federal agency spending in Alabama is Social Security Administration with $27.5B. Followed by Department of Defense ($14.2B) and Department of Health and Human Services ($10.8B).

How much federal spending did Alabama receive in FY2025?

Alabama received $71.6B in total federal spending during Fiscal Year 2025. This equates to $14,242 per capita for the state's population of 5,024,279.

How does Alabama's federal spending per capita compare to the national average?

Alabama's per capita federal spending of $14,242 is 9.0% below the national average of $15,647. Alabama ranks #24 out of 57 states by per capita spending.

What is the largest category of federal spending in Alabama?

The most common award type is contracts, accounting for 77,728 awards (53.2% of tracked awards). The second-largest is direct payments at 45,859 awards.

How many counties in Alabama receive federal spending?

67 counties in Alabama receive federal spending. The county receiving the most is Madison County with $15.6B.

How has federal spending in Alabama changed over time?

Federal spending in Alabama increased by 12.8% from FY2020 ($63.5B) to FY2025 ($71.6B).

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