PlainSpending

Iowa Federal Spending

$11,432 per resident in FY2025 - low intensity (rank #47).

$36.5B total · $11,432 per capita · FY2025 · Ranked #35 total, #47 per capita · 26.8% below national avg

In FY2025, Iowa received $36.5B in federal spending - $11,432 per capita, ranking #47 among 56 states and 26.8% below the national average. The most common award type is direct payments, accounting for 83.6% of tracked awards. The top spending agency is Social Security Administration.

Iowa · FY2025

Iowa received $36.5B in federal spending in FY2025 - $11,432 per resident, 26.8% below the national average, with direct payments the largest award category.

Total federal spending
$36.5B
#35 of 56 states
Per resident
$11,432
#47 per capita
Latest annual change
+$4.1B
FY2024 to FY2025 (+12.8%)
Top agency
Social Security Administration
$16.6B

Low per-resident intensity

Iowa ranks #47 of 56 by per-capita spending ($11,432) - a light intensity band.

According to USASpending.gov, Iowa received $36.5B in FY2025 ($11,432 per resident; population 3,190,369). Total rank #35 and per-capita rank #47 (26.8% below the $15,622 national average) show volume vs intensity.

Low per-resident intensity still shows a full award-count mix: 20,757 contracts, 5,662 grants, 7,885 loans, and 201,954 direct payments. The most common award type is direct payments at 83.6% of tracked awards in the state, with contracts a distant second at 20,757 awards. Social Security Administration is the single largest federal agency operating in Iowa, with $16.6B in obligations - more than Department of Health and Human Services's $8.1B.

Over the available history, federal spending in Iowa has grown 1.3% from $36.0B in FY2020 to $36.5B in FY2025 - from a below-average intensity baseline. Combined with 99 counties and top recipient IA Department of Human Services at $8.0B, the trail shows whether the light intensity is closing the gap.

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) Iowa federal awards (contracts, grants, loans, direct payments) for FY2025 · 2025 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.

Where this low-intensity state sits

Total Spending

$36.5B

Rank #35

Per Capita

$11,432

Rank #47

Population

3,190,369

Contract Awards

20,757

Grant Awards

5,662

Total Federal Spending

$36.5B

FY2025 obligations

Per Capita

$11,432

Rank #47

Counties Receiving

99

federal dollars

Top Agency Share

$16.6B

Social Security Administration

Iowa award-type mix by count (FY2025)

Awards83.6%8.6%Direct PaymentsContractsLoansGrantsOther
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.
Iowa per-capita federal spending vs. national average 61.0%
National average

Compared against the national average of $15,622 per resident.

Awards by Type

Direct Payments is the most common award type at 83.6% of tracked awards in Iowa (by count, not dollar value).

Direct Payments 201,954 awards (83.6%)
Contracts 20,757 awards (8.6%)
Loans 7,885 awards (3.3%)
Grants 5,662 awards (2.3%)
Other 5,349 awards (2.2%)

Comparison to National Average

Metric Iowa National Avg Difference
Per Capita Spending $11,432 $15,622 -26.8%
Contracts Share 0.0% - -
Grants Share 0.0% - -

Fiscal Resilience Score

A single derived score summarizing how diversified and stable Iowa's federal funding mix is, built from four signals already in this page.

F
Fiscal Resilience Score
34/100
Iowa

A transparent derived index from USASpending.gov federal award data, not an official government rating. It measures how diversified and stable Iowa's federal funding mix is across award types, agencies, and fiscal years, not whether that funding is well or poorly spent. Full formula and benchmark table: methodology.

Award-Type Mix F
29%
Diversification across contract/grant/loan/direct-payment/other award counts
Agency Mix D
71%
Diversification of obligated dollars across federal agencies operating in-state
Per-Capita Norm D
27% from avg
Distance of per-resident federal spending from the national average
Funding Stability D
8.5% CV
Year-over-year spending volatility across 6 fiscal years

Top Federal Agencies in Iowa

Federal agencies ranked by total spending in Iowa during FY2025.

# Agency Spending % of Total
1 Social Security Administration $16.6B 45.6%
2 Department of Health and Human Services $8.1B 22.2%
3 Department of Defense $2.9B 8.1%
4 Department of Agriculture $2.6B 7.1%
5 Department of Veterans Affairs $1.6B 4.3%
6 Department of Transportation $1.3B 3.6%
7 Department of Education $718.9M 2.0%
8 Department of Housing and Urban Development $519.5M 1.4%
9 Department of Commerce $423.4M 1.2%
10 Department of Energy $315.7M 0.9%

Top Recipients in Iowa

Organizations and entities receiving the most federal funds in Iowa.

# Recipient Total Awards
1 IA Department of Human Services $8.0B
2 Iowa Department of Transportation $1.0B
3 Msm Group North America INC. $635.2M
4 Department of Education Iowa $541.3M
5 Iowa Department Management $418.4M
6 Data Link Solutions LLC $394.4M
7 Iowa Department of Natural Resources $328.4M
8 Economic Development Authority Iowa $308.5M
9 The University of Iowa $282.3M
10 Iowa State University of Science and Technology $281.6M
11 Rockwell Collins, INC. $259.9M
12 American Ordnance LLC $232.7M

Spending Trends

The latest annual comparison is +$4.1B (+12.8%) from FY2024 to FY2025; this is a difference in recorded award obligations, not a claim about cause or local benefit. Federal spending in Iowa increased 1.3% from FY2020 to FY2025.

$30B$32B$34B$36B$38B$40B FY2020FY2021FY2022FY2023FY2024FY2025 $36B
Fiscal Year Total Spending Per Capita Population
FY2025 $36.5B $11,432 3,190,369
FY2024 $32.3B $10,138 3,190,369
FY2023 $30.9B $9,683 3,190,369
FY2022 $30.5B $9,561 3,190,369
FY2021 $37.9B $11,868 3,190,369
FY2020 $36.0B $11,286 3,190,369

Counties in Iowa

99 counties ranked by federal spending in FY2025.

# County Total Spending Per Capita Population
1 Polk County $4.3B $8,689 492,401
2 Linn County $3.3B $14,286 230,299
3 Des Moines County $1.3B $32,702 38,910
4 Scott County $1.1B $6,475 174,669
5 Johnson County $1.1B $7,353 152,854
6 Black Hawk County $922.6M $7,035 131,144
7 Story County $812.5M $8,246 98,537
8 Dubuque County $780.4M $7,862 99,266
9 Woodbury County $706.3M $6,667 105,941
10 Pottawattamie County $672.3M $7,177 93,667
11 Dallas County $502.9M $5,045 99,678
12 Cerro Gordo County $374.1M $8,675 43,127
13 Clinton County $366.3M $7,884 46,460
14 Warren County $342.5M $6,537 52,403
15 Muscatine County $305.3M $7,062 43,235
16 Webster County $291.7M $7,884 36,999
17 Marshall County $282.0M $7,031 40,105
18 Sioux County $275.2M $7,672 35,872
19 Lee County $269.9M $8,044 33,555
20 Jasper County $259.0M $6,849 37,813
21 Plymouth County $256.7M $9,987 25,698
22 Wapello County $249.3M $7,034 35,437
23 Marion County $234.0M $7,002 33,414
24 Bremer County $211.7M $8,474 24,988
25 Benton County $208.7M $8,160 25,575
26 Boone County $198.2M $7,417 26,715
27 Dickinson County $179.5M $10,142 17,703
28 Fayette County $174.9M $8,967 19,509
29 Carroll County $171.1M $8,240 20,760
30 Buchanan County $166.6M $8,100 20,565
31 Winneshiek County $164.2M $8,184 20,070
32 Mahaska County $160.0M $7,211 22,190
33 Washington County $157.8M $6,992 22,565
34 Poweshiek County $155.8M $8,350 18,662
35 Jones County $150.2M $7,276 20,646
36 Cedar County $149.9M $8,098 18,505
37 Hancock County $149.3M $13,829 10,795
38 Kossuth County $148.0M $9,984 14,828
39 Clayton County $143.0M $8,390 17,043
40 Clay County $142.6M $8,705 16,384
41 Jackson County $142.4M $7,310 19,485
42 Tama County $142.2M $8,297 17,135
43 Crawford County $140.7M $8,512 16,525
44 Henry County $132.9M $6,488 20,482
45 Delaware County $132.2M $7,562 17,488
46 Harrison County $131.1M $8,992 14,582
47 Buena Vista County $130.8M $6,283 20,823
48 Hardin County $126.4M $7,491 16,878
49 Jefferson County $126.2M $8,055 15,663
50 Butler County $125.5M $8,754 14,334
51 Floyd County $120.3M $7,700 15,627
52 Iowa County $120.2M $7,214 16,662
53 Shelby County $118.3M $10,075 11,746
54 Mills County $117.4M $8,106 14,484
55 Cherokee County $116.0M $9,951 11,658
56 Madison County $112.8M $6,816 16,548
57 Page County $111.0M $7,299 15,211
58 Allamakee County $110.7M $7,874 14,061
59 Hamilton County $105.9M $7,044 15,039
60 Union County $104.9M $8,638 12,138
61 Chickasaw County $102.7M $8,546 12,012
62 Cass County $100.9M $7,683 13,127
63 Wright County $100.6M $7,776 12,943
64 Guthrie County $99.7M $9,387 10,623
65 Grundy County $99.4M $8,060 12,329
66 Mitchell County $98.4M $9,313 10,565
67 O'Brien County $98.0M $6,911 14,182
68 Franklin County $96.6M $9,637 10,019
69 Sac County $95.0M $9,676 9,814
70 Appanoose County $91.6M $7,434 12,317
71 Winnebago County $89.7M $8,403 10,679
72 Lyon County $86.6M $7,260 11,934
73 Palo Alto County $86.0M $9,555 8,996
74 Monona County $84.1M $9,615 8,751
75 Louisa County $81.3M $7,501 10,837
76 Howard County $79.4M $8,388 9,469
77 Montgomery County $78.5M $7,603 10,330
78 Emmet County $78.3M $8,342 9,388
79 Clarke County $77.6M $7,963 9,748
80 Greene County $76.8M $8,753 8,771
81 Humboldt County $76.2M $7,938 9,597
82 Calhoun County $76.1M $7,668 9,927
83 Keokuk County $75.9M $7,569 10,033
84 Fremont County $71.3M $10,800 6,605
85 Pocahontas County $66.9M $9,456 7,078
86 Adair County $63.1M $8,412 7,496
87 Audubon County $61.4M $10,827 5,674
88 Monroe County $61.3M $8,093 7,577
89 Lucas County $60.5M $7,006 8,634
90 Van Buren County $59.1M $8,207 7,203
91 Worth County $59.1M $7,938 7,443
92 Decatur County $57.7M $7,552 7,645
93 Taylor County $57.4M $9,729 5,896
94 Ida County $55.6M $7,935 7,005
95 Davis County $54.3M $5,956 9,110
96 Osceola County $52.9M $8,549 6,192
97 Wayne County $50.1M $7,704 6,497
98 Ringgold County $37.5M $8,034 4,663
99 Adams County $34.9M $9,428 3,704
DOGE impact for Iowa → Per-capita rankings → Why spending varies by state →

States With Similar Per Capita Spending

States with per capita federal spending closest to Iowa's $11,432.

Arkansas

$11,603 per capita

$34.9B total

Washington

$11,619 per capita

$89.5B total

Puerto Rico

$11,693 per capita

$38.4B total

American Samoa

$11,788 per capita

$586.0M total

Ohio

$10,938 per capita

$129.1B total

Compare Iowa to another state side-by-side →

States with similar total federal spending

Nearest nationwide peers by total obligation volume ($36.5B here) - a different axis from the per-capita neighbors above.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where does Iowa rank nationally in federal spending?

Iowa ranks #47 of 56 on per-capita intensity ($11,432 - a light band) and #35 on absolute volume ($36.5B) in FY2025.

Which federal agencies spend the most in Iowa?

The top federal agency spending in Iowa is Social Security Administration with $16.6B. Followed by Department of Health and Human Services ($8.1B) and Department of Defense ($2.9B).

How much federal spending did Iowa receive in FY2025?

Iowa received $36.5B in total federal spending during Fiscal Year 2025. This equates to $11,432 per capita for the state's population of 3,190,369.

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

Iowa's $11,432 runs 26.8% below the $15,622 national average (rank #47 of 56).

What is the largest category of federal spending in Iowa?

The most common award type is direct payments, accounting for 201,954 awards (83.6% of tracked awards). The second-largest is contracts at 20,757 awards.

How many counties in Iowa receive federal spending?

99 counties in Iowa receive federal spending. The county receiving the most is Polk County with $4.3B.

How has federal spending in Iowa changed over time?

Federal spending in Iowa increased by 1.3% from FY2020 ($36.0B) to FY2025 ($36.5B).

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and presented.

Verify with USASpending.gov → Verify population with U.S. Census Bureau →