Agencies by grant vs contract mix

≈ computed · assistance share

FY2026 ended Sep 30 · data still posting · data as of 2026-11-01†

† DoD contract data posts to USAspending about 90 days after award.

Federal agencies ranked by how much of their money is ASSISTANCE rather than procurement. A contract buys something for the government; a grant, loan or direct payment funds someone else to do something. The split is the fastest way to understand what an agency actually is: the Department of Defense is a buyer, Health and Human Services is overwhelmingly a funder, and the Department of Energy is close to both at once. Computed

  1. 1
    Social Security Administration$1.7T assistance vs $1.8B contracts
    100% grants
  2. 2
    Railroad Retirement Board$14.7B assistance vs $44.4M contracts
    100% grants
  3. 3
    Department of Health and Human Services$2.1T assistance vs $22.3B contracts
    99% grants
  4. 4
    Department of Housing and Urban Development$73.7B assistance vs $1B contracts
    99% grants
  5. 5
    Federal Communications Commission$10.3B assistance vs $163.3M contracts
    98% grants
  6. 6
    Department of Education$84.2B assistance vs $2.7B contracts
    97% grants
  7. 7
    Department of Agriculture$147B assistance vs $6B contracts
    96% grants
  8. 8
    Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation$4.2B assistance vs $222.4M contracts
    95% grants
  9. 9
    Environmental Protection Agency$16.3B assistance vs $1.1B contracts
    94% grants
  10. 10
    National Science Foundation$5.9B assistance vs $599.4M contracts
    91% grants
  11. 11
    Department of Transportation$87B assistance vs $10.2B contracts
    90% grants
  12. 12
    Department of Labor$8.9B assistance vs $2B contracts
    82% grants
  13. 13
    Department of Veterans Affairs$230B assistance vs $71.4B contracts
    76% grants
  14. 14
    Department of State$14B assistance vs $6.7B contracts
    68% grants
  15. 15
    Department of the Interior$5.9B assistance vs $4.1B contracts
    59% grants
  16. 16
    Agency for International Development$562.7M assistance vs $964.2M contracts
    37% grants
  17. 17
    Department of Homeland Security$32.8B assistance vs $58.8B contracts
    36% grants
  18. 18
    Department of Commerce$1.8B assistance vs $3.4B contracts
    34% grants
  19. 19
    Department of Justice$913M assistance vs $6.1B contracts
    13% grants
  20. 20
    Department of the Treasury$631.1M assistance vs $5.4B contracts
    10% grants
  21. 21
    Department of Energy$5.4B assistance vs $52.6B contracts
    9% grants
  22. 22
    National Aeronautics and Space Administration$1.3B assistance vs $18.5B contracts
    6% grants
  23. 23
    Department of Defense$8.6B assistance vs $240.9B contracts
    3% grants
  24. 24
    General Services Administration$0 assistance vs $22.1B contracts
    0% grants
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Contract dollars are the agency totals coded to a NAICS industry; assistance dollars are those coded to a CFDA assistance program. Both codings are from source. Agencies below $1B in coded totals are excluded, and the coded breakdown does not exist for every loaded year.

Why the labels? The graph is only worth anything if the links are trusted. Facts taken straight from a federal filing are Source; figures we calculate are Computed; links we infer (corporate parents, districts, similar contractors, connections between records) are Inferred, worded carefully, never asserted as fact and never a claim that one thing caused another. Spot an error? Tell us.