American Samoa Federal Spending

In FY2025, the federal government directed $585.8M to American Samoa, translating to $11,785 per resident across a population of 49,710. That per-capita figure is 24.6% below the $15,623 national average and ranks American Samoa #43 of 56 states per capita — while total-dollar rank is #55, illustrating the difference between volume of federal dollars and intensity of federal dependence.

The spending mix shows how federal money actually lands in American Samoa: contracts total $62, grants total $552, loans $8, and direct payments $231. The dominant category is grants at 0.0% of all federal dollars in the state, with direct payments a distant second at $231. Department of Health and Human Services is the single largest federal agency operating in American Samoa, with $147.1M in obligations — more than Department of Agriculture's $76.7M.

Over the available history, federal spending in American Samoa has contracted 58.4% from $1.4B in FY2021 to $585.8M in FY2025. Combined with 0 counties receiving dollars and top recipient MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS at $0, this snapshot lets readers judge whether American Samoa's federal footprint is expanding, stable, or being scaled back relative to FY2025.

It helps to read state totals through two different lenses. Total dollars measure the raw volume of federal money flowing into a state, which naturally favors larger and more populous states. Per-capita spending measures intensity, how much federal money lands per resident, and it surfaces smaller states whose economies lean heavily on federal installations, contracts, or transfer payments. The two rankings often disagree, which is exactly why both appear above. The award mix matters too: contracts signal procurement of goods and services, grants flow to universities, nonprofits, and local governments, and direct payments include programs such as Social Security and Medicare that scale with population. Every figure comes from USASpending.gov, the federal spending-transparency system the U.S. Treasury has operated since the DATA Act of 2014. Federal outlays exceeded 6,750 billion dollars in fiscal year 2024, and these are official government records rather than estimates, though late-posted and corrected awards can adjust a state's totals after the year closes. Our methodology details the per-capita denominator, the award categories, and the data vintage.