City profileOhioFiscal year 2025
How much federal money does Columbus get?
Columbus received $5.0 billion in federal awards in FY2025: $5,291 per resident, 24th of 99 large cities by total.In fiscal year 2025, federal agencies obligated $5.0 billion in awards whose place of performance is Columbus, OH, about $5,291 per resident.
Columbus is 38th 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 17.1% from FY2024 ($4.2 billion). Compared with FY2019, the last year before pandemic relief, it is up 31.5%. The largest share came as grants ($3.6 billion). The Department of Education obligated the most ($1.9 billion), and the largest program was Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program ($788.7 million). By this measure Columbus ranks 24th 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 COLUMBUS, state OH). 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 Ohio page, which includes those payments.
Federal money to Columbus by year
Columbus: $5B in FY2025, up 32% 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 | $533.5M | $2.7B | $315.8M | -$20.5M | $2.2M | $3.6B | – |
| FY2019 | $725.4M | $2.8B | $363.2M | -$68.6M | $747,635 | $3.8B | – |
| FY2020 | $837.0M | $3.5B | $1.9B | -$37.0M | $4.8M | $6.3B | $6,930 |
| FY2021 | $1.0B | $10.9B | $442.0M | -$38.6M | $1.4M | $12.4B | $13,705 |
| FY2022 | $620.5M | $3.1B | $467.1M | -$48.0M | $4.2M | $4.1B | $4,522 |
| FY2023 | $748.3M | $2.8B | $401.0M | -$34.6M | $4.4M | $3.9B | $4,214 |
| FY2024 | $700.5M | $3.1B | $493.9M | -$18.3M | $1.8M | $4.2B | $4,555 |
| FY2025 | $713.4M | $3.6B | $557.4M | $84.8M | $806,259 | $5.0B | $5,291 |
| FY2026* | $674.2M | $2.8B | $521.3M | -$40.1M | $6.8M | $4.0B | – |
Source: USAspending.gov (U.S. Treasury).
Cities with similar totals
Columbus and the cities ranked either side of it
FY2025 federal awards performed in each city, total dollars.
| Oklahoma City, OK | $5.5 billion |
| San Antonio, TX | $5.1 billion |
| Columbus, OH (this page) | $5.0 billion |
| Indianapolis, IN | $4.9 billion |
| San Francisco, CA | $4.8 billion |
Who pays and for what, FY2025
The agencies that obligated the most to Columbus, 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 Education | $1.9 billion | 37.3% |
| Department of Commerce | $859.4 million | 17.3% |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $590.6 million | 11.9% |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $495.5 million | 10.0% |
| Department of Defense | $439.8 million | 8.9% |
| Department of Agriculture | $179.9 million | 3.6% |
| Department of Homeland Security | $142.4 million | 2.9% |
| National Science Foundation | $104.4 million | 2.1% |
| Department of Justice | $90.1 million | 1.8% |
| Department of Transportation | $86.8 million | 1.7% |
Top programs
| Program | FY2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program Assistance Listing 11.035 | $788.7 million | 15.9% |
| Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies Assistance Listing 84.010 | $654.7 million | 13.2% |
| Special Education Grants to States Assistance Listing 84.027 | $516.4 million | 10.4% |
| Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers Assistance Listing 14.871 | $188.7 million | 3.8% |
| Rehabilitation Services Vocational Rehabilitation Grants to States Assistance Listing 84.126 | $177.9 million | 3.6% |
| Federal Pell Grant Program Assistance Listing 84.063 | $174.3 million | 3.5% |
| Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) Assistance Listing 14.195 | $153.7 million | 3.1% |
| Affordable Rural Cooperative Assistance Listing 10.758 | $137.3 million | 2.8% |
| Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance Assistance Listing 93.243 | $102.1 million | 2.1% |
| Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants (formerly Improving Teacher Quality State Grants) Assistance Listing 84.367 | $76.9 million | 1.5% |
Nearby on this site
Universities in Columbus
Questions and answers
- How much federal money does Columbus get?
- $5.0 billion in FY2025 in awards performed in Columbus, OH, according to USAspending.gov. That excludes most payments to individuals, which are published only by county.
- How much is that per resident?
- About $5,291 per resident, using the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate of 938,396 people.
- Which agency spends the most in Columbus?
- The Department of Education, 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 (COLUMBUS) in OH, 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 (Columbus city).
- How the figures are built, and what they leave out: sources and methods.