City profileNorth CarolinaFiscal year 2025
How much federal money does Charlotte get?
Charlotte received $927.3 million in federal awards in FY2025: $961 per resident, 69th of 99 large cities by total.In fiscal year 2025, federal agencies obligated $927.3 million in awards whose place of performance is Charlotte, NC, about $961 per resident.
Charlotte is 88th 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 up 37.9% from FY2024 ($672.4 million). Compared with FY2019, the last year before pandemic relief, it is up 102.4%. The largest share came as grants ($356.7 million). The Department of Defense obligated the most ($213.4 million), and the largest program was Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chain Demonstrations and Commercial Applications ($190.1 million). By this measure Charlotte ranks 69th 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 CHARLOTTE, state NC). 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 North Carolina page, which includes those payments.
Federal money to Charlotte by year
Charlotte: $927M in FY2025, up 102% 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 | $129.7M | $112.6M | $168.7M | -$26.7M | $55,688 | $384.4M | – |
| FY2019 | $327.7M | $104.8M | $164.9M | -$139.3M | $53,567 | $458.2M | – |
| FY2020 | $204.7M | $319.6M | $333.2M | -$74.5M | $903,575 | $783.9M | $896 |
| FY2021 | $189.4M | $400.2M | $387.3M | -$113.0M | $3.9M | $867.8M | $983 |
| FY2022 | $129.3M | $299.5M | $181.7M | -$88.4M | $875,485 | $523.0M | $582 |
| FY2023 | $151.7M | $247.6M | $205.7M | -$52.1M | $127,647 | $553.0M | $602 |
| FY2024 | $211.4M | $262.9M | $225.7M | -$29.2M | $1.6M | $672.4M | $712 |
| FY2025 | $320.9M | $356.7M | $269.0M | -$28.4M | $9.1M | $927.3M | $961 |
| FY2026* | $208.3M | $240.2M | $269.7M | -$41.2M | $1.2M | $678.2M | – |
Source: USAspending.gov (U.S. Treasury).
Cities with similar totals
Charlotte and the cities ranked either side of it
FY2025 federal awards performed in each city, total dollars.
| Scottsdale, AZ | $993.8 million |
| Aurora, CO | $972.3 million |
| Charlotte, NC (this page) | $927.3 million |
| Newark, NJ | $830.3 million |
| Buffalo, NY | $739.7 million |
Who pays and for what, FY2025
The agencies that obligated the most to Charlotte, 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 Defense | $213.4 million | 23.0% |
| Department of Energy | $207.4 million | 22.4% |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $138.6 million | 14.9% |
| Department of Education | $133.3 million | 14.4% |
| Department of Transportation | $87.0 million | 9.4% |
| Department of Homeland Security | $57.0 million | 6.1% |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $30.0 million | 3.2% |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $25.1 million | 2.7% |
| National Science Foundation | $13.6 million | 1.5% |
| Department of Justice | $11.3 million | 1.2% |
Top programs
| Program | FY2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chain Demonstrations and Commercial Applications Assistance Listing 81.253 | $190.1 million | 20.5% |
| Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers Assistance Listing 14.871 | $127.8 million | 13.8% |
| Federal Pell Grant Program Assistance Listing 84.063 | $117.8 million | 12.7% |
| Airport Improvement Program, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Programs, and COVID-19 Airports Programs Assistance Listing 20.106 | $84.2 million | 9.1% |
| Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) Assistance Listing 14.195 | $14.7 million | 1.6% |
| Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy Assistance Listing 81.135 | $11.2 million | 1.2% |
| Flood Insurance Assistance Listing 97.022 | $9.0 million | 1.0% |
| Continuum of Care Program Assistance Listing 14.267 | $7.3 million | 0.8% |
| Community Development Block Grants/Entitlement Grants Assistance Listing 14.218 | $6.8 million | 0.7% |
| Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS Assistance Listing 14.241 | $6.4 million | 0.7% |
Nearby on this site
Other cities in North Carolina
- Raleigh$7.2B
- Greensboro$552M
- Durham$2.2B
- Winston-Salem$387M
Universities in Charlotte
Questions and answers
- How much federal money does Charlotte get?
- $927.3 million in FY2025 in awards performed in Charlotte, NC, according to USAspending.gov. That excludes most payments to individuals, which are published only by county.
- How much is that per resident?
- About $961 per resident, using the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate of 964,784 people.
- Which agency spends the most in Charlotte?
- The Department of Defense, with $213.4 million 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 (CHARLOTTE) in NC, 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 (Charlotte city).
- How the figures are built, and what they leave out: sources and methods.