City profileCaliforniaFiscal year 2025
How much federal money does Irvine get?
Irvine received $1.7 billion in federal awards in FY2025: $5,447 per resident, 50th of 99 large cities by total.In fiscal year 2025, federal agencies obligated $1.7 billion in awards whose place of performance is Irvine, CA, about $5,447 per resident.
Irvine is 36th 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 1.7% from FY2024 ($1.7 billion). Compared with FY2019, the last year before pandemic relief, it is up 59.7%. The largest share came as contracts ($727.8 million). The Department of Defense obligated the most ($597.6 million), and the largest program was Federal Loan Guarantees for Innovative Energy Technologies ($497.2 million). By this measure Irvine ranks 50th 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 IRVINE, state CA). 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 California page, which includes those payments.
Federal money to Irvine by year
Irvine: $1.7B in FY2025, up 60% 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 | $469.5M | $283.6M | $346.6M | -$20.4M | -$2 | $1.1B | – |
| FY2019 | $595.0M | $264.5M | $256.7M | -$29.2M | $151,554 | $1.1B | – |
| FY2020 | $553.5M | $360.8M | $258.6M | -$41.9M | $1.6M | $1.1B | $3,673 |
| FY2021 | $313.1M | $528.2M | $326.3M | -$227.5M | $326 | $940.1M | $3,098 |
| FY2022 | $699.9M | $238.5M | $262.8M | -$247.8M | $356,130 | $953.8M | $3,051 |
| FY2023 | $936.8M | $319.6M | $293.8M | -$203.6M | $0 | $1.3B | $4,282 |
| FY2024 | $1.1B | $367.7M | $311.9M | -$77.1M | $96,350 | $1.7B | $5,370 |
| FY2025 | $727.8M | $274.5M | $358.5M | $375.0M | $428,310 | $1.7B | $5,447 |
| FY2026* | $757.6M | $292.0M | $310.5M | $143.7M | $862,636 | $1.5B | – |
Source: USAspending.gov (U.S. Treasury).
Cities with similar totals
Irvine and the cities ranked either side of it
FY2025 federal awards performed in each city, total dollars.
| Richmond, VA | $2.1 billion |
| Honolulu, HI | $1.8 billion |
| Irvine, CA (this page) | $1.7 billion |
| Mesa, AZ | $1.7 billion |
| Pittsburgh, PA | $1.7 billion |
Who pays and for what, FY2025
The agencies that obligated the most to Irvine, 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 | $597.6 million | 34.4% |
| Department of Energy | $507.1 million | 29.2% |
| Department of Education | $207.7 million | 12.0% |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $205.6 million | 11.8% |
| General Services Administration | $49.6 million | 2.9% |
| National Science Foundation | $48.8 million | 2.8% |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $43.3 million | 2.5% |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | $22.1 million | 1.3% |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $14.8 million | 0.9% |
| Department of Homeland Security | $13.1 million | 0.8% |
Top programs
| Program | FY2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Federal Loan Guarantees for Innovative Energy Technologies Assistance Listing 81.126 | $497.2 million | 28.6% |
| Federal Pell Grant Program Assistance Listing 84.063 | $190.4 million | 11.0% |
| Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) Assistance Listing 14.195 | $155.0 million | 8.9% |
| Aging Research Assistance Listing 93.866 | $40.1 million | 2.3% |
| Biomedical Research and Research Training Assistance Listing 93.859 | $19.7 million | 1.1% |
| Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research Assistance Listing 93.855 | $18.1 million | 1.0% |
| WaterSMART Water Recycling Assistance Listing 15.504 | $12.3 million | 0.7% |
| Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders Assistance Listing 93.853 | $11.7 million | 0.7% |
| Mathematical and Physical Sciences Assistance Listing 47.049 | $10.8 million | 0.6% |
| Vision Research Assistance Listing 93.867 | $9.8 million | 0.6% |
Nearby on this site
Other cities in California
- Los Angeles$4.6B
- San Diego$11B
- San Jose$1.3B
- San Francisco$4.8B
- Fresno$665M
- Sacramento$7.8B
- Long Beach$3B
- Oakland$1.3B
Universities in Irvine
Questions and answers
- How much federal money does Irvine get?
- $1.7 billion in FY2025 in awards performed in Irvine, CA, according to USAspending.gov. That excludes most payments to individuals, which are published only by county.
- How much is that per resident?
- About $5,447 per resident, using the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate of 318,764 people.
- Which agency spends the most in Irvine?
- The Department of Defense, with $597.6 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 (IRVINE) in CA, 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 (Irvine city).
- How the figures are built, and what they leave out: sources and methods.