Where the Money Lands
I · The MapShade each state by federal prime-contract dollars per resident and the real geography appears. It is not California and Texas - they are big because they are populous. It is the contractor beltway (the District, Virginia, Maryland), where the primes keep their headquarters, and the national-lab states like New Mexico, where a single weapons or energy contract dwarfs the local economy. Nationally the rate runs about $2,211 per resident; the darkest states below sit many times above that.
- 01 District of Columbia $52,128
- 02 Virginia $12,730
- 03 Maryland $7,490
- 04 New Mexico $6,188
- 05 Connecticut $5,547
Every state, in a table
| State | Total ($B) | Per resident |
|---|---|---|
| District of Columbia DC | 35.9 | $52,128 |
| Virginia VA | 109.9 | $12,730 |
| Maryland MD | 46.3 | $7,490 |
| New Mexico NM | 13.1 | $6,188 |
| Connecticut CT | 20 | $5,547 |
| Alaska AK | 3.8 | $5,217 |
| Hawaii HI | 6.7 | $4,572 |
| Alabama AL | 17.3 | $3,453 |
| Kentucky KY | 12.3 | $2,731 |
| Maine ME | 3.7 | $2,705 |
| Missouri MO | 16.2 | $2,629 |
| Colorado CO | 15 | $2,597 |
| Massachusetts MA | 17.8 | $2,534 |
| Arizona AZ | 18 | $2,523 |
| Mississippi MS | 6.5 | $2,205 |
| Utah UT | 7.2 | $2,188 |
| New Hampshire NH | 2.9 | $2,089 |
| South Carolina SC | 10.6 | $2,075 |
| Idaho ID | 3.8 | $2,048 |
| Pennsylvania PA | 26.6 | $2,044 |
| Texas TX | 59.3 | $2,034 |
| Washington WA | 15.4 | $1,993 |
| California CA | 61.7 | $1,561 |
| Tennessee TN | 10.8 | $1,559 |
| Wisconsin WI | 8.9 | $1,503 |
| Florida FL | 31.3 | $1,454 |
| South Dakota SD | 1.3 | $1,451 |
| Vermont VT | 0.9 | $1,431 |
| Oklahoma OK | 5.5 | $1,377 |
| Nevada NV | 3.9 | $1,266 |
| North Dakota ND | 1 | $1,257 |
| Kansas KS | 3.3 | $1,133 |
| West Virginia WV | 2 | $1,111 |
| Rhode Island RI | 1.2 | $1,090 |
| New Jersey NJ | 9.8 | $1,056 |
| Illinois IL | 13.4 | $1,045 |
| Montana MT | 1.1 | $1,021 |
| Georgia GA | 10.4 | $971 |
| Iowa IA | 3 | $947 |
| Wyoming WY | 0.5 | $923 |
| Louisiana LA | 3.9 | $828 |
| Michigan MI | 8 | $798 |
| Indiana IN | 5.3 | $779 |
| Ohio OH | 9 | $762 |
| New York NY | 15.1 | $747 |
| North Carolina NC | 7.2 | $689 |
| Nebraska NE | 1.3 | $659 |
| Arkansas AR | 1.9 | $637 |
| Oregon OR | 2.4 | $577 |
| Minnesota MN | 3 | $521 |
| Delaware DE | 0.3 | $341 |
Real FY2024 rollup by primary place of performance, prime-contract dollars. Per resident = state contract dollars divided by Census resident population - both come straight from the USAspending geography endpoint - see Methodology.
Big States and Contractor States
II · TotalsDrop the per-resident lens and the raw totals mix two different stories. Virginia tops the table at $109.9B - not because it is populous but because the primes book their work there - while California and Texas sit just behind on sheer size. Raw totals blur the contractor-dense states and the merely-big ones together; the per-resident map above is what pulls them apart.
Top twelve, in a table
| State | Total ($B) | Per resident |
|---|---|---|
| Virginia VA | 109.9 | $12,730 |
| California CA | 61.7 | $1,561 |
| Texas TX | 59.3 | $2,034 |
| Maryland MD | 46.3 | $7,490 |
| District of Columbia DC | 35.9 | $52,128 |
| Florida FL | 31.3 | $1,454 |
| Pennsylvania PA | 26.6 | $2,044 |
| Connecticut CT | 20 | $5,547 |
| Arizona AZ | 18 | $2,523 |
| Massachusetts MA | 17.8 | $2,534 |
| Alabama AL | 17.3 | $3,453 |
| Missouri MO | 16.2 | $2,629 |
The Top of the Contractor Table
III · ConcentrationOf roughly $0.74T in prime contract dollars, the five largest firms alone book about 19%. Read the list and the buyer is obvious: the weapons houses sit at the top, threaded with the military-health and services firms (Leidos, Booz Allen) that supply the same customer. This is not a market of thousands of vendors. It is a short table, and the same names sit at the top of it every year.
- 01LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP Weapons & aircraft$63.4B
- 02THE BOEING COMPANY Weapons & aircraft$26.8B
- 03UNITEDHEALTH GROUP INCORPORATED Health & pharma$20.9B
- 04TRIWEST HEALTHCARE ALLIANCE CORP Health & pharma$15.5B
- 05RTX CORP Weapons & aircraft$14.3B
- 06ROCKWELL COLLINS AUSTRALIA PTY LIMITED Weapons & aircraft$14.0B
- 07FISHER SAND & GRAVEL CO Facilities & construction$13.9B
- 08NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORPORATION Weapons & aircraft$12.0B
- 09LEIDOS HOLDINGS, INC. Professional & IT services$10.8B
- 10ELECTRIC BOAT CORPORATION Ships & marine$8.8B
- 11FLUOR CORPORATION Facilities & construction$7.7B
- 12HUNTINGTON INGALLS INDUSTRIES, INC Ships & marine$7.5B
- 13BOOZ ALLEN HAMILTON HOLDING CORPORATION Professional & IT services$6.7B
- 14HONEYWELL SAFETY PRODUCTS USA, INC. Facilities & construction$6.5B
- 15L3HARRIS TECHNOLOGIES, INC R&D & everything else$6.3B
Share = percent of all FY2024 prime contract obligations. Names use USAspending's own parent-level recipient roll-up, which is occasionally imperfect (a subsidiary can attach to the wrong parent). Real FY2024 USAspending figures - see Methodology.
What the Money Buys
IV · SectorsSplit the roughly $0.74T in contract dollars by what they purchase, and the surprise is how much of it is services, not hardware. Professional & IT services is the single largest bucket at 28%, and together the top three sectors take 70% of every contract dollar. The government buys weapons, yes - but it buys even more of the engineering, IT, research, and professional labor that builds and runs the machine.
- Professional & IT services 28% Systems engineering, IT and telecom, consulting, program and admin support
- Facilities & construction 24% Construction, base operations, real property, maintenance, environmental
- Weapons & aircraft 18% Aircraft, missiles, ordnance, ammunition, engines, and combat systems
- R&D & everything else 15% Basic and applied research, fuels, energy, space, and the long tail
- Health & pharma 11% Drugs, vaccines, medical supply, and managed-care / health services
- Ships & marine 5% Shipbuilding, marine equipment, overhaul, and naval sustainment
Sectors, in a table
| Sector | Contract $ ($B) | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Professional & IT services | 206.6 | 27.9% |
| Facilities & construction | 178.7 | 24.1% |
| Weapons & aircraft | 131.9 | 17.8% |
| R&D & everything else | 109.3 | 14.8% |
| Health & pharma | 81 | 10.9% |
| Ships & marine | 33.4 | 4.5% |
Which Agencies Funnel, Which Spread
V · By AgencySame dollars, sharper question: how many hands does each agency's money pass through? Veterans Affairs funnels the hardest - more than half its dollars flow to just five recipients, the health networks that run veteran care - with USAID and the EPA close behind. Defense, the second-largest buyer of all, actually spreads across the most names of any major agency. Size and grip are not the same thing. The dashed line is the average agency, 28% to its top five recipients.
Concentration = share of the agency's prime-award dollars going to its five largest recipients (rolled up to parent). Bars past the dashed average are shaded solid; the rest are outlined - the tag and the number carry the reading without relying on color. Real FY2024 USAspending.
Size Is Not Concentration
VI · Two AxesPlot every major agency by how much it awards against how tightly it awards, and the two come apart. Health & Human Services is the largest buyer on the board yet spreads its money at a middling rate; Veterans Affairs and USAID are a fraction of its size but route well over 40% to just five recipients. And Defense, the second-largest, is among the least concentrated of all. Bigness and capture are different diseases - reading them on one axis hides that.
Every agency, in a table
| Agency | Total | Top-5 share | Award lean |
|---|---|---|---|
| VA Department of Veterans Affairs | $69.7B | 58% | contract-led |
| USAID Agency for International Development | $30.2B | 46% | assistance-led |
| EPA Environmental Protection Agency | $45.7B | 40% | assistance-led |
| DOS Department of State | $23.4B | 35% | mixed |
| DHS Department of Homeland Security | $58.7B | 33% | mixed |
| HHS Department of Health and Human Services | $809.1B | 32% | assistance-led |
| DOE Department of Energy | $60.9B | 32% | contract-led |
| ED Department of Education | $57B | 28% | assistance-led |
| GSA General Services Administration | $26.5B | 26% | contract-led |
| DOT Department of Transportation | $118B | 21% | assistance-led |
| DOC Department of Commerce | $34.7B | 20% | assistance-led |
| HUD Department of Housing and Urban Development | $28.4B | 19% | assistance-led |
| USDA Department of Agriculture | $75.8B | 17% | assistance-led |
| DoD Department of Defense | $456.7B | 10% | contract-led |
| DOI Department of the Interior | $16.8B | 9% | mixed |
Buy or Grant
VII · Award MixEvery agency does one of two things with its money: it buys (contracts) or it gives (assistance - grants). Almost none does both. Defense, Veterans Affairs and Energy sit hard against the contract wall; Health & Human Services, Education and Transportation are nearly pure assistance. Of the fifteen largest awarders, 4 are overwhelmingly buyers and 8 overwhelmingly granters - the middle is thin.
Award mix, in a table
| Agency | Contracts | Assistance |
|---|---|---|
| GSA General Services Administration | 100% | 0% |
| DoD Department of Defense | 98% | 2% |
| VA Department of Veterans Affairs | 96% | 4% |
| DOE Department of Energy | 76% | 24% |
| DOS Department of State | 50% | 50% |
| DOI Department of the Interior | 48% | 52% |
| DHS Department of Homeland Security | 40% | 60% |
| USAID Agency for International Development | 25% | 75% |
| USDA Department of Agriculture | 15% | 85% |
| DOC Department of Commerce | 15% | 85% |
| DOT Department of Transportation | 7% | 93% |
| ED Department of Education | 5% | 95% |
| EPA Environmental Protection Agency | 5% | 95% |
| HUD Department of Housing and Urban Development | 5% | 95% |
| HHS Department of Health and Human Services | 4% | 96% |
Contracts Hold Steady. Assistance Erupts.
VIII · Over TimeStack the two families of award since 2008 and one of them barely moves. Contract dollars sit near $0.74T a year, war or peace - the buying machine runs at a steady idle. Assistance is the earthquake: the Recovery Act lifts it in 2009-10, then the pandemic sends it past $1.45T in 2021 alone. When people say federal spending exploded, this purple band is what they are pointing at.
Every Dollar, and Who Holds It
IX · DistributionLine up all ~240k prime recipients from largest to smallest and ask where the money actually sits. The top 1% - about 2,400 recipients - hold 64 cents of every dollar. The tens of thousands of small recipients in the tail split what is left. Federal spending is not a broad shower falling evenly; it is a firehose, and only a few names stand in front of it.
x-axis is log-scaled (0.1% to 100% of recipients) so the tiny, dollar-heavy head is legible.
| Recipient bracket | Cumulative $ |
|---|---|
| Top 0.1% | 38% |
| Top 1% | 64% |
| Top 5% | 83% |
| Top 10% | 90% |
| Top 25% | 96% |
| Top 50% | 99% |
| Top 100% | 100% |
Modeled distribution, shaped to the real federal-award skew: USAspending's aggregation endpoints do not expose an exact per-percentile recipient curve without a full recipient-roll ingest. This is the one series on the page still estimated - see Methodology.