Top federal agencies by spending: FY2025
≈ computed · obligationsDepartment of Health and Human Services obligated $2T in FY2025, more than any other federal agency. Cabinet departments and independent agencies at the top tier, ranked by what they obligated. Sub-agencies roll up into their parent here and are ranked separately. ≈ computed
Ranked from USASpending records, data current as of 2026-09-01. FY2020 to FY2025 are loaded.
- 1Department of Health and Human Services575 recipients$2T
- 2Social Security Administration74 recipients$1.6T
- 3Department of Defense680 recipients$501.6B
- 4Department of Veterans Affairs181 recipients$288B
- 5Department of Agriculture370 recipients$186.9B
- 6Department of Transportation307 recipients$134.9B
- 7Department of Education267 recipients$96B
- 8Department of Energy329 recipients$81.3B
- 9Department of Housing and Urban Development162 recipients$77.8B
- 10Department of Homeland Security364 recipients$73.3B
- 11Environmental Protection Agency210 recipients$27.3B
- 12Department of Commerce239 recipients$25.1B
- 13General Services Administration236 recipients$24.3B
- 14National Aeronautics and Space Administration218 recipients$22.9B
- 15Department of the Interior267 recipients$18.6B
- 16Railroad Retirement Board3 recipients$14.6B
- 17Department of State127 recipients$14B
- 18Agency for International Development47 recipients$12.6B
- 19Department of Labor150 recipients$11.5B
- 20Department of Justice247 recipients$11.4B
- 21Department of the Treasury113 recipients$9B
- 22National Science Foundation150 recipients$8.9B
- 23Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation16 recipients$6.6B
- 24Federal Communications Commission39 recipients$6.3B
- 25Small Business Administration22 recipients$1.1B
- 26Corporation for National and Community Service30 recipients$700.2M
- 27Securities and Exchange Commission7 recipients$498.2M
- 28Smithsonian Institution0 recipients$432.2M
- 29U.S. Agency for Global Media3 recipients$375.8M
- 30Executive Office of the President11 recipients$352.7M
- 31Millennium Challenge Corporation2 recipients$291.4M
- 32Appalachian Regional Commission9 recipients$269.9M
- 33Institute of Museum and Library Services23 recipients$257.7M
- 34National Archives and Records Administration13 recipients$209.4M
- 35Office of Personnel Management9 recipients$198.6M
- 36Nuclear Regulatory Commission13 recipients$184.7M
- 37Denali Commission5 recipients$177.9M
- 38Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council3 recipients$174.5M
- 39National Endowment for the Arts12 recipients$120.2M
- 40Government Accountability Office5 recipients$117.4M
- 41Consumer Financial Protection Bureau6 recipients$116.3M
- 42Federal Trade Commission2 recipients$93.1M
- 43$77.9M
- 44National Endowment for the Humanities15 recipients$72.9M
- 45Delta Regional Authority0 recipients$72.9M
- 46Peace Corps4 recipients$68.6M
- 47Commodity Futures Trading Commission2 recipients$67.9M
- 48District of Columbia Courts7 recipients$62.6M
- 49National Gallery of Art0 recipients$54.6M
- 50Equal Employment Opportunity Commission7 recipients$48.6M
- 51$37M
- 52Consumer Product Safety Commission22 recipients$32.1M
- 53National Transportation Safety Board0 recipients$29.7M
- 54National Labor Relations Board0 recipients$27.3M
- 55Export-Import Bank of the United States3 recipients$24.2M
- 56International Trade Commission0 recipients$17.8M
- 57United States Trade and Development Agency1 recipient$14.9M
- 58Federal Election Commission1 recipient$13.7M
- 59Election Assistance Commission0 recipients$13.5M
- 60Selective Service System0 recipients$7.4M
- 61Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board0 recipients$5.9M
- 62Federal Maritime Commission0 recipients$5.1M
- 63$4.6M
- 64Merit Systems Protection Board0 recipients$3.2M
- 65$2.1M
- 66Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service0 recipients$1.7M
- 67United States Chemical Safety Board0 recipients$1.6M
- 68Federal Labor Relations Authority0 recipients$1.6M
- 69Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission0 recipients$1.6M
- 70National Credit Union Administration0 recipients$438.6K
- 71Federal Housing Finance Agency0 recipients$387.8K
- 72Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation0 recipients$346K
- 73American Battle Monuments Commission0 recipients$278K
- 74Administrative Conference of the U.S.0 recipients$26.5K
- 75Library of Congress0 recipients$7K
- 76Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission0 recipients$0
- 77Inter-American Foundation0 recipients$0
Obligations are commitments, not outlays: an agency obligates money in the year it awards, which can precede the year the money is actually paid.
Questions
- Which federal agency spends the most in FY2025?
- Department of Health and Human Services, with $2T obligated in FY2025, ahead of Social Security Administration at $1.6T.
- Why is the Department of Defense not first?
- Because this ranks all obligations, and the health and retirement programs run by HHS and the Social Security Administration move more money than defense procurement does. Ranked by CONTRACT dollars alone, Defense leads by a wide margin.
- Where does this ranking come from?
- It is computed from USASpending.gov award records, which are U.S. government works and in the public domain. Each figure is the agency's total obligations for FY2025. TheFiscalFinder does the ranking; the underlying figures are the government's own.
- How many agencies are shown?
- The top 77 for FY2025. Each row opens that agencie's own page, where the same money is broken out by year, by counterparty and by place.
- Does a high position mean anything is wrong?
- No. This is a description of where public money went in FY2025, computed from public records. It is not an allegation about anyone on it.
Related rankings
🔎
Why the labels? The graph is only worth anything if the links are trusted. Facts taken straight from a federal filing are ✓ from source; figures we calculate are ≈ computed; links we infer (corporate parents, districts, competitors, 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.