PlainSpending

Nebraska Federal Spending

$27.7B in FY2025 - a thin absolute book (rank #41 of 57).

$27.7B total · $14,140 per capita · FY2025 · Ranked #41 total, #26 per capita · 9.6% below national avg

In FY2025, Nebraska received $27.7B in federal spending - $14,140 per capita, ranking #26 among 57 states and 9.6% below the national average. The most common award type is direct payments, accounting for 84.0% of tracked awards. The top spending agency is Department of Health and Human Services.

Nebraska · FY2025

Nebraska received $27.7B in federal spending in FY2025 - $14,140 per resident, 9.6% below the national average, with direct payments the largest award category.

Total federal spending
$27.7B
#41 of 57 states
Per resident
$14,140
#26 per capita
Latest annual change
+$4.4B
FY2024 to FY2025 (+19.0%)
Top agency
Dept. of Health and Human Services
$10.1B

Thin absolute federal book

Nebraska is a light absolute book: #40 of 56 with $27.7B.

According to USASpending.gov, Nebraska carried a thin absolute federal book of $27.7B in FY2025 ($14,140 per resident; population 1,961,504). Total-dollar rank #41 is a light absolute footprint; per-capita rank #26 sits 9.6% below the national average.

The award-type mix by count: 19,107 contracts, 5,040 grants, 3,620 loans, and 172,997 direct payments. The most common award type is direct payments at 84.0% of tracked awards in the state, with contracts a distant second at 19,107 awards. Department of Health and Human Services is the single largest federal agency operating in Nebraska, with $10.1B in obligations - more than Social Security Administration's $9.0B.

Over the available history, federal spending in Nebraska has grown 11.6% from $24.8B in FY2020 to $27.7B in FY2025. Combined with 93 counties receiving dollars and top recipient Nebraska Department of Health && Human Services at $4.2B, this snapshot lets readers judge whether Nebraska'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) Nebraska 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 thin absolute book sits

Total Spending

$27.7B

Rank #41

Per Capita

$14,140

Rank #26

Population

1,961,504

Contract Awards

19,107

Grant Awards

5,040

Total Federal Spending

$27.7B

FY2025 obligations

Per Capita

$14,140

Rank #26

Counties Receiving

93

federal dollars

Top Agency Share

$10.1B

Department of Health and Human

Nebraska award-type mix by count (FY2025)

Awards84%9.3%Direct PaymentsContractsOtherGrantsLoans
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.
Nebraska per-capita federal spending vs. national average 75.3%
National average

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

Awards by Type

Direct Payments is the most common award type at 84.0% of tracked awards in Nebraska (by count, not dollar value).

Direct Payments 172,997 awards (84.0%)
Contracts 19,107 awards (9.3%)
Other 5,166 awards (2.5%)
Grants 5,040 awards (2.4%)
Loans 3,620 awards (1.8%)

Comparison to National Average

Metric Nebraska National Avg Difference
Per Capita Spending $14,140 $15,647 -9.6%
Contracts Share 0.0% - -
Grants Share 0.0% - -

Top Federal Agencies in Nebraska

Federal agencies ranked by total spending in Nebraska during FY2025.

# Agency Spending % of Total
1 Department of Health and Human Services $10.1B 36.5%
2 Social Security Administration $9.0B 32.6%
3 Department of Agriculture $2.2B 7.9%
4 Department of Veterans Affairs $1.5B 5.4%
5 Department of Education $717.5M 2.6%
6 Department of Transportation $687.7M 2.5%
7 Department of Defense $657.2M 2.4%
8 Railroad Retirement Board $515.4M 1.9%
9 Federal Communications Commission $479.7M 1.7%
10 Environmental Protection Agency $461.7M 1.7%

Top Recipients in Nebraska

Organizations and entities receiving the most federal funds in Nebraska.

# Recipient Total Awards
1 Nebraska Department of Health && Human Services $4.2B
2 Nebraska Department of Transportation $869.1M
3 Nebraska Department of Water, Energy, and Environment $551.5M
4 NE Colorado Cellular, INC. $437.8M
5 Department of Education Nebraska $408.6M
6 Nebraska Electric G&t Coop $200.0M
7 Nelnet Servicing LLC $184.0M
8 Metgreen Solutions INC $174.3M
9 Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska $122.0M
10 Department of Military Nebraska $88.1M
11 Peraton Enterprise Solutions LLC $81.7M
12 All Native Synergies Company $72.3M

Spending Trends

The latest annual comparison is +$4.4B (+19.0%) from FY2024 to FY2025; this is a difference in recorded award obligations, not a claim about cause or local benefit. Federal spending in Nebraska increased 11.6% from FY2020 to FY2025.

$22B$24B$26B$28B$30B FY2020FY2021FY2022FY2023FY2024FY2025 $28B
Fiscal Year Total Spending Per Capita Population
FY2025 $27.7B $14,140 1,961,504
FY2024 $23.3B $11,880 1,961,504
FY2023 $23.0B $11,735 1,961,504
FY2022 $22.6B $11,542 1,961,504
FY2021 $26.5B $13,499 1,961,504
FY2020 $24.8B $12,668 1,961,504

Counties in Nebraska

93 counties ranked by federal spending in FY2025.

# County Total Spending Per Capita Population
1 Douglas County $9.3B $15,987 584,526
2 Lancaster County $3.1B $9,515 322,608
3 Sarpy County $1.7B $8,801 190,604
4 Madison County $417.9M $11,743 35,585
5 Platte County $414.6M $12,089 34,296
6 Hall County $372.3M $5,919 62,895
7 Buffalo County $351.7M $7,023 50,084
8 Lincoln County $324.6M $9,362 34,676
9 Scotts Bluff County $297.0M $8,232 36,084
10 Dodge County $272.4M $7,328 37,167
11 Adams County $238.0M $7,627 31,205
12 Thurston County $233.8M $34,512 6,773
13 Cass County $208.9M $7,855 26,598
14 Gage County $202.1M $9,312 21,704
15 Saunders County $160.6M $7,207 22,278
16 Washington County $151.3M $7,253 20,865
17 Dawson County $147.5M $6,116 24,111
18 Seward County $144.6M $8,214 17,609
19 Otoe County $127.9M $8,041 15,912
20 Dakota County $123.9M $5,741 21,582
21 York County $121.1M $8,573 14,125
22 Box Butte County $117.2M $10,809 10,842
23 Keith County $103.8M $12,449 8,335
24 Custer County $102.8M $9,753 10,545
25 Red Willow County $99.6M $9,309 10,702
26 Saline County $98.8M $6,913 14,292
27 Cheyenne County $97.0M $10,240 9,468
28 Cuming County $95.8M $10,624 9,013
29 Knox County $94.7M $11,291 8,391
30 Holt County $89.6M $8,847 10,127
31 Hamilton County $88.5M $9,381 9,429
32 Wayne County $86.0M $8,868 9,697
33 Phelps County $84.2M $9,386 8,968
34 Cedar County $82.5M $9,842 8,380
35 Dawes County $81.1M $9,892 8,199
36 Fillmore County $80.7M $14,532 5,551
37 Butler County $77.7M $9,280 8,369
38 Jefferson County $76.3M $10,535 7,240
39 Burt County $73.9M $10,995 6,722
40 Antelope County $71.8M $11,406 6,295
41 Richardson County $70.1M $8,912 7,871
42 Clay County $69.7M $11,411 6,104
43 Howard County $69.4M $10,716 6,475
44 Furnas County $65.8M $14,201 4,636
45 Thayer County $64.1M $12,740 5,034
46 Kearney County $62.1M $9,278 6,688
47 Merrick County $61.6M $8,030 7,668
48 Nemaha County $61.4M $8,684 7,074
49 Boone County $60.3M $11,216 5,379
50 Colfax County $59.9M $5,660 10,582
51 Polk County $59.2M $11,358 5,214
52 Pierce County $55.8M $7,625 7,317
53 Nuckolls County $53.9M $13,164 4,095
54 Dixon County $52.8M $9,414 5,606
55 Sheridan County $50.2M $9,796 5,127
56 Cherry County $46.0M $8,440 5,455
57 Kimball County $45.6M $13,282 3,434
58 Stanton County $45.2M $7,741 5,842
59 Harlan County $45.0M $14,641 3,073
60 Chase County $42.3M $10,862 3,893
61 Perkins County $42.1M $14,744 2,858
62 Frontier County $42.1M $16,706 2,519
63 Webster County $39.0M $11,480 3,395
64 Valley County $38.6M $9,505 4,059
65 Johnson County $35.0M $6,607 5,290
66 Morrill County $33.9M $7,433 4,555
67 Pawnee County $32.8M $12,907 2,544
68 Franklin County $32.1M $11,119 2,889
69 Boyd County $31.2M $17,245 1,810
70 Sherman County $30.7M $10,371 2,959
71 Deuel County $30.3M $16,477 1,838
72 Brown County $27.9M $9,606 2,903
73 Hitchcock County $27.6M $10,533 2,616
74 Gosper County $27.0M $14,248 1,893
75 Greeley County $22.0M $10,044 2,188
76 Garden County $22.0M $11,724 1,874
77 Nance County $21.7M $6,426 3,380
78 Keya Paha County $19.0M $24,700 769
79 Banner County $18.0M $26,640 674
80 Dundy County $17.2M $10,423 1,654
81 Garfield County $13.9M $7,652 1,813
82 Sioux County $13.5M $11,870 1,135
83 Hayes County $13.4M $15,694 856
84 Rock County $11.1M $8,766 1,262
85 Hooker County $7.6M $10,685 711
86 Blaine County $6.2M $14,333 431
87 Loup County $6.0M $9,901 607
88 Wheeler County $5.3M $6,894 774
89 Mcpherson County $5.3M $13,308 399
90 Logan County $5.2M $7,300 716
91 Grant County $4.8M $7,792 611
92 Thomas County $4.1M $6,089 669
93 Arthur County $3.9M $8,906 434
DOGE impact for Nebraska → Per-capita rankings → Understanding federal spending →

States With Similar Per Capita Spending

States with per capita federal spending closest to Nebraska's $14,140.

Montana

$14,143 per capita

$15.3B total

Alabama

$14,242 per capita

$71.6B total

Rhode Island

$13,799 per capita

$15.1B total

Vermont

$13,783 per capita

$8.9B total

Massachusetts

$14,689 per capita

$103.3B total

Compare Nebraska to another state side-by-side →

States with similar total federal spending

Nearest nationwide peers by total obligation volume ($27.7B here) - a different axis from the per-capita neighbors above.

  • Utah · $29.1B total · $8,897 per capita
  • Kansas · $31.0B total · $10,560 per capita
  • West Virginia · $23.8B total · $13,273 per capita
  • Idaho · $22.8B total · $12,406 per capita

Frequently Asked Questions

How much federal spending did Nebraska receive in FY2025?

Nebraska received a thin absolute book of $27.7B in FY2025 ($14,140 per capita; population 1,961,504).

What is the largest category of federal spending in Nebraska?

The most common award type is direct payments, accounting for 172,997 awards (84.0% of tracked awards). The second-largest is contracts at 19,107 awards.

How has federal spending in Nebraska changed over time?

Federal spending in Nebraska increased by 11.6% from FY2020 ($24.8B) to FY2025 ($27.7B).

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

Nebraska's per capita federal spending of $14,140 is 9.6% below the national average of $15,647. Nebraska ranks #26 out of 57 states by per capita spending.

Where does Nebraska rank nationally in federal spending?

Nebraska ranks #41 out of 57 states in total federal spending and #26 in per capita spending. The state received $27.7B total ($14,140 per person) in FY2025.

Which federal agencies spend the most in Nebraska?

The top federal agency spending in Nebraska is Department of Health and Human Services with $10.1B. Followed by Social Security Administration ($9.0B) and Department of Agriculture ($2.2B).

How many counties in Nebraska receive federal spending?

93 counties in Nebraska receive federal spending. The county receiving the most is Douglas County with $9.3B.

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

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