City profileMassachusettsFiscal year 2025
How much federal money does Boston get?
Boston received $5.9 billion in federal awards in FY2025: $8,836 per resident, 21st of 99 large cities by total.In fiscal year 2025, federal agencies obligated $5.9 billion in awards whose place of performance is Boston, MA, about $8,836 per resident.
Boston is 18th of 99 large cities per resident
Federal awards per resident, FY2025, the 99 largest US cities on this site. Dashed line: median city.
What the money is
That is down 9.0% from FY2024 ($6.5 billion). Compared with FY2019, the last year before pandemic relief, it is up 30.5%. The largest share came as grants ($2.9 billion). The Department of Health and Human Services obligated the most ($1.9 billion), and the largest program was Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers ($989.4 million). By this measure Boston ranks 21st of the 99 large US cities on this site.
What is counted: contracts, grants, loans and payments that agencies report with this city as the place of performance (USAspending.gov city name BOSTON, state MA). Payments to individuals, such as Social Security, are published only as county totals to protect privacy, so most of them do not show up at city level. For the full picture see the Massachusetts page, which includes those payments.
Federal money to Boston by year
Boston: $5.9B in FY2025, up 31% on FY2019
Federal award obligations by fiscal year and type, FY2018–FY2026, nominal dollars. FY26* is preliminary and still filling in.
- Insurance and other
- Loans (subsidy cost)
- Direct payments
- Grants
- Contracts
View every year as a table
| Fiscal year | Contracts | Grants | Direct payments | Loans | Insurance and other | Total | Per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2018 | $514.3M | $3.3B | $769.6M | $157.0M | $11.7M | $4.7B | – |
| FY2019 | $423.3M | $3.1B | $1.0B | -$17.2M | $8.5M | $4.6B | – |
| FY2020 | $521.7M | $3.2B | $2.5B | -$4.0M | $13.4M | $6.2B | $9,304 |
| FY2021 | $522.8M | $4.0B | $1.8B | -$5.1M | $25.6M | $6.3B | $9,622 |
| FY2022 | $1.0B | $1.4B | $1.3B | -$3.5M | $6.0M | $3.7B | $5,537 |
| FY2023 | $1.6B | $1.8B | $1.5B | -$2.0M | $11.4M | $4.9B | $7,267 |
| FY2024 | $1.7B | $3.2B | $1.6B | $7.9M | $15.6M | $6.5B | $9,693 |
| FY2025 | $1.3B | $2.9B | $1.8B | $950,729 | $27.7M | $5.9B | $8,836 |
| FY2026* | $769.5M | $2.8B | $1.6B | -$116,402 | $3.3M | $5.2B | – |
Source: USAspending.gov (U.S. Treasury).
Cities with similar totals
Boston and the cities ranked either side of it
FY2025 federal awards performed in each city, total dollars.
| Chicago, IL | $6.3 billion |
| Tampa, FL | $6.0 billion |
| Boston, MA (this page) | $5.9 billion |
| Oklahoma City, OK | $5.5 billion |
| San Antonio, TX | $5.1 billion |
Who pays and for what, FY2025
The agencies that obligated the most to Boston, and the largest federal programs. Programs are federal Assistance Listings (formerly CFDA numbers); contracts have no listing number, so they do not appear there.
Top awarding agencies
| Agency | FY2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Health and Human Services | $1.9 billion | 32.0% |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $1.8 billion | 30.0% |
| Department of Defense | $999.0 million | 16.8% |
| Department of Energy | $552.8 million | 9.3% |
| Department of Education | $230.6 million | 3.9% |
| National Science Foundation | $84.9 million | 1.4% |
| Department of Justice | $81.7 million | 1.4% |
| Department of Homeland Security | $45.4 million | 0.8% |
| Department of Agriculture | $35.2 million | 0.6% |
| Department of Commerce | $34.9 million | 0.6% |
Top programs
| Program | FY2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers Assistance Listing 14.871 | $989.4 million | 16.6% |
| Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) Assistance Listing 14.195 | $494.7 million | 8.3% |
| Grid Infrastructure Deployment and Resilience Assistance Listing 81.254 | $389.3 million | 6.5% |
| Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research Assistance Listing 93.855 | $194.4 million | 3.3% |
| Cardiovascular Diseases Research Assistance Listing 93.837 | $170.1 million | 2.9% |
| Aging Research Assistance Listing 93.866 | $139.3 million | 2.3% |
| Federal Pell Grant Program Assistance Listing 84.063 | $118.8 million | 2.0% |
| Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases Extramural Research Assistance Listing 93.847 | $105.9 million | 1.8% |
| Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders Assistance Listing 93.853 | $96.0 million | 1.6% |
| Trans-NIH Research Support Assistance Listing 93.310 | $88.9 million | 1.5% |
Nearby on this site
Universities in Boston
Questions and answers
- How much federal money does Boston get?
- $5.9 billion in FY2025 in awards performed in Boston, MA, according to USAspending.gov. That excludes most payments to individuals, which are published only by county.
- How much is that per resident?
- About $8,836 per resident, using the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate of 672,973 people.
- Which agency spends the most in Boston?
- The Department of Health and Human Services, with $1.9 billion in FY2025.
Sources and notes
- USAspending.gov (U.S. Department of the Treasury), API endpoints spending_over_time and spending_by_category, filtered by place of performance city (BOSTON) in MA, fiscal years 2018–2026. Amounts are obligations in nominal dollars. Data retrieved 2026-10-04. Public domain.
- U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2025 city estimates (Boston city).
- How the figures are built, and what they leave out: sources and methods.