City profileNorth CarolinaFiscal year 2025
How much federal money does Durham get?
Durham received $2.2 billion in federal awards in FY2025: $7,172 per resident, 44th of 99 large cities by total.In fiscal year 2025, federal agencies obligated $2.2 billion in awards whose place of performance is Durham, NC, about $7,172 per resident.
Durham is 27th 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 19.5% from FY2024 ($2.7 billion). Compared with FY2019, the last year before pandemic relief, it is up 7.6%. The largest share came as contracts ($1.2 billion). The Department of Health and Human Services obligated the most ($930.5 million), and the largest program was Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research ($130.7 million). By this measure Durham ranks 44th 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 DURHAM, 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 Durham by year
Durham: $2.2B in FY2025, up 8% 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 | $1.3B | $880.5M | $64.2M | -$40,768 | $16.0M | $2.2B | – |
| FY2019 | $1.2B | $777.3M | $67.5M | $46,285 | $16.9M | $2.0B | – |
| FY2020 | $1.3B | $1.1B | $68.1M | $905,428 | $17.2M | $2.5B | $8,836 |
| FY2021 | $1.2B | $1.2B | $137.1M | $34,253 | $20.2M | $2.6B | $9,205 |
| FY2022 | $2.7B | $603.4M | $75.8M | -$13,873 | $20.3M | $3.4B | $11,599 |
| FY2023 | $1.1B | $659.2M | $75.5M | -$149,873 | $25.4M | $1.9B | $6,444 |
| FY2024 | $1.5B | $1.1B | $101.5M | -$13,220 | $23.2M | $2.7B | $9,053 |
| FY2025 | $1.2B | $827.0M | $95.7M | $649,571 | $72.0M | $2.2B | $7,172 |
| FY2026* | $1.1B | $768.1M | $161.6M | $132,763 | $30.7M | $2.1B | – |
Source: USAspending.gov (U.S. Treasury).
Cities with similar totals
Durham and the cities ranked either side of it
FY2025 federal awards performed in each city, total dollars.
| Miami, FL | $2.3 billion |
| St. Paul, MN | $2.2 billion |
| Durham, NC (this page) | $2.2 billion |
| Dallas, TX | $2.2 billion |
| Madison, WI | $2.1 billion |
Who pays and for what, FY2025
The agencies that obligated the most to Durham, 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 | $930.5 million | 42.5% |
| General Services Administration | $277.8 million | 12.7% |
| Agency for International Development | $277.5 million | 12.7% |
| Environmental Protection Agency | $157.4 million | 7.2% |
| Department of Defense | $115.7 million | 5.3% |
| Department of Education | $104.7 million | 4.8% |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $86.3 million | 3.9% |
| National Science Foundation | $69.2 million | 3.2% |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $55.0 million | 2.5% |
| Department of Energy | $47.8 million | 2.2% |
Top programs
| Program | FY2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research Assistance Listing 93.855 | $130.7 million | 6.0% |
| Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program (EJ TCGM) Assistance Listing 66.615 | $95.0 million | 4.3% |
| Cardiovascular Diseases Research Assistance Listing 93.837 | $52.3 million | 2.4% |
| Federal Pell Grant Program Assistance Listing 84.063 | $46.7 million | 2.1% |
| USAID Foreign Assistance for Programs Overseas Assistance Listing 98.001 | $45.0 million | 2.1% |
| Office of Technology Transitions (OTT)-Technology Deployment, Demonstration and Commercialization Assistance Listing 81.010 | $44.5 million | 2.0% |
| Aging Research Assistance Listing 93.866 | $43.2 million | 2.0% |
| Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research Assistance Listing 93.865 | $28.7 million | 1.3% |
| Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers Assistance Listing 14.871 | $25.6 million | 1.2% |
| Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases Extramural Research Assistance Listing 93.847 | $25.3 million | 1.2% |
Nearby on this site
Other cities in North Carolina
- Charlotte$927M
- Raleigh$7.2B
- Greensboro$552M
- Winston-Salem$387M
Universities in Durham
Questions and answers
- How much federal money does Durham get?
- $2.2 billion in FY2025 in awards performed in Durham, NC, according to USAspending.gov. That excludes most payments to individuals, which are published only by county.
- How much is that per resident?
- About $7,172 per resident, using the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate of 305,561 people.
- Which agency spends the most in Durham?
- The Department of Health and Human Services, with $930.5 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 (DURHAM) 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 (Durham city).
- How the figures are built, and what they leave out: sources and methods.