City profileTexasFiscal year 2025
How much federal money does El Paso get?
El Paso received $1.2 billion in federal awards in FY2025: $1,824 per resident, 65th of 99 large cities by total.In fiscal year 2025, federal agencies obligated $1.2 billion in awards whose place of performance is El Paso, TX, about $1,824 per resident.
El Paso is 67th 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 23.7% from FY2024 ($1.6 billion). Compared with FY2019, the last year before pandemic relief, it is up 7.3%. The largest share came as contracts ($909.9 million). The Department of Defense obligated the most ($592.4 million), and the largest program was Federal Pell Grant Program ($177.7 million). By this measure El Paso ranks 65th 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 EL PASO, state TX). 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 Texas page, which includes those payments.
Federal money to El Paso by year
El Paso: $1.2B in FY2025, up 7% 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 | $865.4M | $150.3M | $195.2M | -$469,115 | -$319,168 | $1.2B | – |
| FY2019 | $764.0M | $200.5M | $198.3M | -$1.5M | -$168,269 | $1.2B | – |
| FY2020 | $779.4M | $276.1M | $337.4M | -$116,100 | $25,450 | $1.4B | $2,050 |
| FY2021 | $1.5B | $507.2M | $367.0M | -$2.7M | $249,726 | $2.4B | $3,536 |
| FY2022 | $2.3B | $226.3M | $219.8M | -$2.4M | $4.0M | $2.8B | $4,065 |
| FY2023 | $1.6B | $251.7M | $234.2M | -$1.6M | $219,342 | $2.1B | $3,021 |
| FY2024 | $1.2B | $191.4M | $260.7M | -$763,221 | $265,202 | $1.6B | $2,381 |
| FY2025 | $909.9M | $39.7M | $292.8M | $2.5M | $598,936 | $1.2B | $1,824 |
| FY2026* | $5.4B | $95.4M | $293.6M | -$168,060 | $750,750 | $5.8B | – |
Source: USAspending.gov (U.S. Treasury).
Cities with similar totals
El Paso and the cities ranked either side of it
FY2025 federal awards performed in each city, total dollars.
| Tulsa, OK | $1.3 billion |
| McKinney, TX | $1.3 billion |
| El Paso, TX (this page) | $1.2 billion |
| Milwaukee, WI | $1.0 billion |
| Scottsdale, AZ | $993.8 million |
Who pays and for what, FY2025
The agencies that obligated the most to El Paso, 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 | $592.4 million | 47.6% |
| Department of Education | $196.3 million | 15.8% |
| Department of Homeland Security | $175.5 million | 14.1% |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $121.8 million | 9.8% |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $47.4 million | 3.8% |
| Department of State | $30.8 million | 2.5% |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $26.0 million | 2.1% |
| General Services Administration | $15.5 million | 1.2% |
| Department of Transportation | $11.9 million | 1.0% |
| Federal Communications Commission | $6.0 million | 0.5% |
Top programs
| Program | FY2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Federal Pell Grant Program Assistance Listing 84.063 | $177.7 million | 14.3% |
| Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers Assistance Listing 14.871 | $53.9 million | 4.3% |
| Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) Assistance Listing 14.195 | $46.6 million | 3.7% |
| Veterans State Nursing Home Care Assistance Listing 64.015 | $18.2 million | 1.5% |
| Airport Improvement Program, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Programs, and COVID-19 Airports Programs Assistance Listing 20.106 | $11.9 million | 1.0% |
| Impact Aid Assistance Listing 84.041 | $7.0 million | 0.6% |
| Community Development Block Grants/Entitlement Grants Assistance Listing 14.218 | $6.4 million | 0.5% |
| UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND - SCHOOLS and LIBRARIES Assistance Listing 32.004 | $6.0 million | 0.5% |
| Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance Assistance Listing 93.243 | $5.1 million | 0.4% |
| Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Assistance Listing 93.307 | $4.2 million | 0.3% |
Nearby on this site
Other cities in Texas
- Houston$7.5B
- San Antonio$5.1B
- Dallas$2.2B
- Fort Worth$33B
- Austin$12B
- Arlington$574M
- Corpus Christi$353M
- Plano$153M
Universities in El Paso
Questions and answers
- How much federal money does El Paso get?
- $1.2 billion in FY2025 in awards performed in El Paso, TX, according to USAspending.gov. That excludes most payments to individuals, which are published only by county.
- How much is that per resident?
- About $1,824 per resident, using the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate of 683,012 people.
- Which agency spends the most in El Paso?
- The Department of Defense, with $592.4 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 (EL PASO) in TX, 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 (El Paso city).
- How the figures are built, and what they leave out: sources and methods.