PlainSpending

Pennsylvania Federal Spending

$281.6B in FY2025 - a heavy absolute book (rank #4 of 56).

$281.6B total · $21,653 per capita · FY2025 · Ranked #4 total, #12 per capita · 38.6% above national avg

In FY2025, Pennsylvania received $281.6B in federal spending - $21,653 per capita, ranking #12 among 56 states and 38.6% above the national average. The most common award type is contracts, accounting for 85.2% of tracked awards. The top spending agency is Department of Health and Human Services.

Pennsylvania · FY2025

Pennsylvania received $281.6B in federal spending in FY2025 - $21,653 per resident, 38.6% above the national average, with contracts the largest award category.

Total federal spending
$281.6B
#4 of 56 states
Per resident
$21,653
#12 per capita
Latest annual change
+$14.8B
FY2024 to FY2025 (+5.5%)
Top agency
Dept. of Health and Human Services
$155.6B

Heavy absolute federal book

Pennsylvania sits #4 of 56 states by total federal spending ($281.6B).

According to USASpending.gov, the federal government directed a dense absolute book of $281.6B to Pennsylvania in FY2025 ($21,653 per resident across 13,002,700 people). Total-dollar rank #4 marks a heavy absolute footprint; per-capita rank is #12 (38.6% above the $15,622 national average).

High per-resident intensity shapes the award-count mix: 681,601 contracts, 18,518 grants, 45,743 loans, and 48,386 direct payments. The most common award type is contracts at 85.2% of tracked awards in the state, with direct payments a distant second at 48,386 awards. Department of Health and Human Services is the single largest federal agency operating in Pennsylvania, with $155.6B in obligations - more than Social Security Administration's $72.9B.

Over the available history, federal spending in Pennsylvania has grown 0.8% from $279.2B in FY2020 to $281.6B in FY2025 - against an already above-average intensity band. Combined with 67 counties and top recipient PA Department of Human Services at $36.2B, the trail shows whether the heavy intensity is still rising.

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) Pennsylvania 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 large absolute book sits

Total Spending

$281.6B

Rank #4

Per Capita

$21,653

Rank #12

Population

13,002,700

Contract Awards

681,601

Grant Awards

18,518

Total Federal Spending

$281.6B

FY2025 obligations

Per Capita

$21,653

Rank #12

Counties Receiving

67

federal dollars

Top Agency Share

$155.6B

Department of Health and Human

Pennsylvania award-type mix by count (FY2025)

Awards85.2%ContractsDirect PaymentsLoansGrantsOther
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.
Pennsylvania per-capita federal spending vs. national average 83.3%
National average

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

Awards by Type

Contracts is the most common award type at 85.2% of tracked awards in Pennsylvania (by count, not dollar value).

Contracts 681,601 awards (85.2%)
Direct Payments 48,386 awards (6.0%)
Loans 45,743 awards (5.7%)
Grants 18,518 awards (2.3%)
Other 5,669 awards (0.7%)

Comparison to National Average

Metric Pennsylvania National Avg Difference
Per Capita Spending $21,653 $15,622 +38.6%
Contracts Share 0.0% - -
Grants Share 0.0% - -

Fiscal Resilience Score

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

F
Fiscal Resilience Score
33/100
Pennsylvania

A transparent derived index from USASpending.gov federal award data, not an official government rating. It measures how diversified and stable Pennsylvania'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
27%
Diversification across contract/grant/loan/direct-payment/other award counts
Agency Mix F
61%
Diversification of obligated dollars across federal agencies operating in-state
Per-Capita Norm F
39% from avg
Distance of per-resident federal spending from the national average
Funding Stability A-
6.3% CV
Year-over-year spending volatility across 6 fiscal years

Top Federal Agencies in Pennsylvania

Federal agencies ranked by total spending in Pennsylvania during FY2025.

# Agency Spending % of Total
1 Department of Health and Human Services $155.6B 55.3%
2 Social Security Administration $72.9B 25.9%
3 Department of Defense $23.1B 8.2%
4 Department of Veterans Affairs $6.4B 2.3%
5 Department of Agriculture $6.2B 2.2%
6 Department of Transportation $4.2B 1.5%
7 Department of Education $3.0B 1.0%
8 Department of Energy $2.5B 0.9%
9 Department of Housing and Urban Development $2.5B 0.9%
10 Environmental Protection Agency $1.1B 0.4%

Top Recipients in Pennsylvania

Organizations and entities receiving the most federal funds in Pennsylvania.

# Recipient Total Awards
1 PA Department of Human Services $36.2B
2 Amerisourcebergen Drug CORP $7.4B
3 Fluor Marine Propulsion, LLC $3.6B
4 Pennsylvania Department of Transportation $2.9B
5 Pennsylvania Dept of Eduation $2.6B
6 Pennsylvania Dept of Education $2.6B
7 Bae Systems Land && Armaments L.p. $2.2B
8 Bechtel Plant Machinery, INC. $2.1B
9 The Boeing Company $1.2B
10 Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection $1.0B
11 Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, The $882.3M
12 University of Pittsburgh -- of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education $815.5M
13 United Food and Commercial Workers Union and Participating Food Industry Employers Tri-State Pension $684.4M
14 Philadelphia Housing Authority $638.5M
15 The Pennsylvania State University $632.3M

Spending Trends

The latest annual comparison is +$14.8B (+5.5%) from FY2024 to FY2025; this is a difference in recorded award obligations, not a claim about cause or local benefit. Federal spending in Pennsylvania increased 0.8% from FY2020 to FY2025.

$220B$240B$260B$280B$300B FY2020FY2021FY2022FY2023FY2024FY2025 $282B
Fiscal Year Total Spending Per Capita Population
FY2025 $281.6B $21,653 13,002,700
FY2024 $266.8B $20,516 13,002,700
FY2023 $256.3B $19,709 13,002,700
FY2022 $231.3B $17,787 13,002,700
FY2021 $262.7B $20,207 13,002,700
FY2020 $279.2B $21,474 13,002,700

Counties in Pennsylvania

67 counties ranked by federal spending in FY2025.

# County Total Spending Per Capita Population
1 Cumberland County $106.3B $409,868 259,469
2 Allegheny County $25.7B $20,569 1,250,578
3 Philadelphia County $14.0B $8,758 1,603,797
4 Montgomery County $13.9B $16,199 856,553
5 York County $6.1B $13,388 456,438
6 Dauphin County $5.2B $18,283 286,401
7 Bucks County $5.1B $7,832 646,538
8 Delaware County $5.0B $8,623 576,830
9 Chester County $3.8B $7,048 534,413
10 Lancaster County $3.7B $6,731 552,984
11 Westmoreland County $3.0B $8,569 354,663
12 Luzerne County $2.9B $8,753 325,594
13 Berks County $2.8B $6,537 428,849
14 Lehigh County $2.5B $6,652 374,557
15 Northampton County $2.2B $7,151 312,951
16 Erie County $2.1B $7,612 270,876
17 Lackawanna County $1.8B $8,490 215,896
18 Montour County $1.8B $99,124 18,136
19 Washington County $1.8B $8,577 209,349
20 Cambria County $1.7B $13,102 133,472
21 Butler County $1.7B $8,524 193,763
22 Franklin County $1.5B $9,770 155,932
23 Centre County $1.5B $9,627 158,172
24 Beaver County $1.3B $8,010 168,215
25 Monroe County $1.3B $7,752 168,327
26 Lebanon County $1.1B $7,651 143,257
27 Fayette County $1.1B $8,374 128,804
28 Schuylkill County $1.0B $7,225 143,049
29 Blair County $1.0B $8,190 122,822
30 Mercer County $974.7M $8,809 110,652
31 Lycoming County $873.2M $7,647 114,188
32 Adams County $823.6M $7,931 103,852
33 Crawford County $683.2M $8,139 83,938
34 Northumberland County $657.2M $7,170 91,647
35 Lawrence County $652.4M $7,580 86,070
36 Armstrong County $600.4M $9,159 65,558
37 Indiana County $599.2M $7,199 83,246
38 Clearfield County $585.6M $7,269 80,562
39 Somerset County $577.7M $7,793 74,129
40 Carbon County $502.8M $7,765 64,749
41 Pike County $491.4M $8,394 58,535
42 Columbia County $460.6M $7,116 64,727
43 Wayne County $439.2M $8,586 51,155
44 Bradford County $433.1M $7,223 59,967
45 Venango County $407.7M $8,080 50,454
46 Bedford County $383.4M $8,059 47,577
47 Susquehanna County $345.0M $8,976 38,434
48 Jefferson County $342.6M $7,700 44,492
49 Warren County $332.8M $8,624 38,587
50 Tioga County $322.8M $7,864 41,045
51 Perry County $319.1M $6,961 45,842
52 Mifflin County $314.3M $6,811 46,143
53 Huntingdon County $305.1M $6,919 44,092
54 Mckean County $301.6M $7,458 40,432
55 Clarion County $266.5M $7,157 37,241
56 Clinton County $259.7M $6,935 37,450
57 Snyder County $252.9M $6,364 39,736
58 Greene County $252.7M $7,027 35,954
59 Union County $249.1M $5,836 42,681
60 Elk County $240.1M $7,746 30,990
61 Wyoming County $199.2M $7,641 26,069
62 Juniata County $164.8M $7,009 23,509
63 Potter County $136.3M $8,312 16,396
64 Fulton County $120.1M $8,252 14,556
65 Sullivan County $60.3M $10,329 5,840
66 Forest County $52.0M $7,455 6,973
67 Cameron County $47.6M $10,478 4,547
DOGE impact for Pennsylvania → Per-capita rankings → Why spending varies by state →

States With Similar Per Capita Spending

States with per capita federal spending closest to Pennsylvania's $21,653.

New Mexico

$19,577 per capita

$41.5B total

Wisconsin

$19,169 per capita

$113.0B total

Virginia

$24,807 per capita

$214.1B total

Alaska

$25,101 per capita

$18.4B total

Tennessee

$17,561 per capita

$121.4B total

Compare Pennsylvania to another state side-by-side →

States with similar total federal spending

Nearest nationwide peers by total obligation volume ($281.6B here) - a different axis from the per-capita neighbors above.

  • New York · $262.2B total · $12,978 per capita
  • Texas · $311.4B total · $10,686 per capita
  • Minnesota · $242.1B total · $42,425 per capita
  • Florida · $325.1B total · $15,092 per capita

Frequently Asked Questions

How much federal spending did Pennsylvania receive in FY2025?

Pennsylvania received a heavy absolute book of $281.6B in FY2025 ($21,653 per capita; population 13,002,700).

What is the largest category of federal spending in Pennsylvania?

The most common award type is contracts, accounting for 681,601 awards (85.2% of tracked awards). The second-largest is direct payments at 48,386 awards.

How has federal spending in Pennsylvania changed over time?

Federal spending in Pennsylvania increased by 0.8% from FY2020 ($279.2B) to FY2025 ($281.6B).

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

Pennsylvania's $21,653 runs 38.6% above the $15,622 national average (rank #12 of 56).

Where does Pennsylvania rank nationally in federal spending?

Pennsylvania ranks #12 of 56 on per-capita intensity ($21,653) and #4 on absolute volume ($281.6B) in FY2025.

Which federal agencies spend the most in Pennsylvania?

The top federal agency spending in Pennsylvania is Department of Health and Human Services with $155.6B. Followed by Social Security Administration ($72.9B) and Department of Defense ($23.1B).

How many counties in Pennsylvania receive federal spending?

67 counties in Pennsylvania receive federal spending. The county receiving the most is Cumberland County with $106.3B.

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

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