District Of Columbia Federal Spending

According to USASpending.gov, the official federal award-transaction dataset, the federal government directed $48.9B to District Of Columbia in FY2025, translating to $70,928 per resident across a population of 689,545. That per-capita figure is 353.3% above the $15,647 national average and ranks District Of Columbia #3 of 57 states per capita, while total-dollar rank is #31, illustrating the difference between volume of federal dollars and intensity of federal dependence.

The award-type mix shows how federal awards break down in District Of Columbia by count: 59,362 contracts, 4,415 grants, 460 loans, and 1,041 direct payments. The most common award type is contracts at 90.8% of tracked awards in the state, with grants a distant second at 4,415 awards. Department of Transportation is the single largest federal agency operating in District Of Columbia, with $10.2B in obligations - more than Department of Defense's $7.9B.

Over the available history, federal spending in District Of Columbia has grown 12.2% from $43.6B in FY2020 to $48.9B in FY2025. Combined with 1 counties receiving dollars and top recipient National Railroad Passenger Corporation at $6.7B, this snapshot lets readers judge whether District Of Columbia'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 $7.0 trillion in fiscal year 2025 (CBO Monthly Budget Review), 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.