City profileIndianaFiscal year 2025
How much federal money does Indianapolis get?
Indianapolis received $4.9 billion in federal awards in FY2025: $5,470 per resident, 25th of 99 large cities by total.In fiscal year 2025, federal agencies obligated $4.9 billion in awards whose place of performance is Indianapolis, IN, about $5,470 per resident.
Indianapolis is 35th 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 4.6% from FY2024 ($4.7 billion). Compared with FY2019, the last year before pandemic relief, it is up 35.7%. The largest share came as contracts ($2.9 billion). The Department of Defense obligated the most ($2.1 billion), and the largest program was Federal Pell Grant Program ($356.0 million). By this measure Indianapolis ranks 25th 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 INDIANAPOLIS, state IN). 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 Indiana page, which includes those payments.
Federal money to Indianapolis by year
Indianapolis: $4.9B in FY2025, up 36% 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 | $1.5B | $1.4B | $386.7M | $8.7M | $41,300 | $3.3B | – |
| FY2019 | $1.8B | $1.4B | $445.8M | -$2.6M | $36,504 | $3.6B | – |
| FY2020 | $1.8B | $2.0B | $1.1B | $3.4M | $90,370 | $4.9B | $5,527 |
| FY2021 | $3.9B | $5.4B | $709.4M | -$511,585 | $376,672 | $10.0B | $11,325 |
| FY2022 | $5.3B | $1.4B | $417.2M | -$1.3M | $522,508 | $7.1B | $8,066 |
| FY2023 | $2.4B | $1.5B | $485.8M | -$4.3M | $894,255 | $4.4B | $4,938 |
| FY2024 | $1.8B | $2.4B | $548.9M | $1.2M | $1.1M | $4.7B | $5,242 |
| FY2025 | $2.9B | $1.4B | $620.1M | -$1.5M | $760,965 | $4.9B | $5,470 |
| FY2026* | $2.1B | $1.5B | $790.4M | $13.2M | $949,026 | $4.4B | – |
Source: USAspending.gov (U.S. Treasury).
Cities with similar totals
Indianapolis and the cities ranked either side of it
FY2025 federal awards performed in each city, total dollars.
| San Antonio, TX | $5.1 billion |
| Columbus, OH | $5.0 billion |
| Indianapolis, IN (this page) | $4.9 billion |
| San Francisco, CA | $4.8 billion |
| Los Angeles, CA | $4.6 billion |
Who pays and for what, FY2025
The agencies that obligated the most to Indianapolis, 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 | $2.1 billion | 42.9% |
| Department of Education | $1.2 billion | 24.9% |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $478.7 million | 9.7% |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $360.2 million | 7.3% |
| General Services Administration | $264.2 million | 5.4% |
| Department of Homeland Security | $169.4 million | 3.4% |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $111.7 million | 2.3% |
| Department of Transportation | $48.8 million | 1.0% |
| Department of Justice | $48.5 million | 1.0% |
| Department of Labor | $23.9 million | 0.5% |
Top programs
| Program | FY2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Federal Pell Grant Program Assistance Listing 84.063 | $356.0 million | 7.2% |
| Special Education Grants to States Assistance Listing 84.027 | $315.0 million | 6.4% |
| Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies Assistance Listing 84.010 | $280.9 million | 5.7% |
| Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers Assistance Listing 14.871 | $151.7 million | 3.1% |
| Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) Assistance Listing 14.195 | $91.2 million | 1.8% |
| Rehabilitation Services Vocational Rehabilitation Grants to States Assistance Listing 84.126 | $75.6 million | 1.5% |
| Disaster Grants - Public Assistance (Presidentially Declared Disasters) Assistance Listing 97.036 | $52.3 million | 1.1% |
| Aging Research Assistance Listing 93.866 | $42.8 million | 0.9% |
| Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants (formerly Improving Teacher Quality State Grants) Assistance Listing 84.367 | $41.2 million | 0.8% |
| Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance Assistance Listing 93.243 | $35.7 million | 0.7% |
Nearby on this site
Universities in Indianapolis
Questions and answers
- How much federal money does Indianapolis get?
- $4.9 billion in FY2025 in awards performed in Indianapolis, IN, according to USAspending.gov. That excludes most payments to individuals, which are published only by county.
- How much is that per resident?
- About $5,470 per resident, using the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate of 901,116 people.
- Which agency spends the most in Indianapolis?
- The Department of Defense, with $2.1 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 (INDIANAPOLIS) in IN, 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 (Indianapolis city (balance)).
- How the figures are built, and what they leave out: sources and methods.