City profileLouisianaFiscal year 2025
How much federal money does New Orleans get?
New Orleans received $3.0 billion in federal awards in FY2025: $8,254 per resident, 37th of 99 large cities by total.In fiscal year 2025, federal agencies obligated $3.0 billion in awards whose place of performance is New Orleans, LA, about $8,254 per resident.
New Orleans is 20th 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 49.4% from FY2024 ($2.0 billion). Compared with FY2019, the last year before pandemic relief, it is up 68.5%. The largest share came as contracts ($2.1 billion). The Department of Defense obligated the most ($1.6 billion), and the largest program was Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers ($256.6 million). By this measure New Orleans ranks 37th 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 NEW ORLEANS, state LA). 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 Louisiana page, which includes those payments.
Federal money to New Orleans by year
New Orleans: $3B in FY2025, up 68% 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 | $896.9M | $354.7M | $272.5M | -$774,397 | $6,416 | $1.5B | – |
| FY2019 | $1.1B | $384.1M | $276.2M | -$3.0M | -$81,098 | $1.8B | – |
| FY2020 | $1.3B | $583.0M | $294.7M | $1.1M | $11.9M | $2.2B | $5,688 |
| FY2021 | $870.9M | $877.2M | $706.2M | -$2.2M | $2.6M | $2.5B | $6,503 |
| FY2022 | $882.8M | $367.0M | $341.8M | $703,931 | $31.5M | $1.6B | $4,376 |
| FY2023 | $1.1B | $398.6M | $332.7M | -$5.6M | $1.7M | $1.8B | $5,010 |
| FY2024 | $1.1B | $531.5M | $359.0M | $1.9M | $6.4M | $2.0B | $5,506 |
| FY2025 | $2.1B | $430.9M | $413.4M | -$2.4M | $11.7M | $3.0B | $8,254 |
| FY2026* | $1.1B | $333.0M | $384.2M | -$3.7M | $3.0M | $1.8B | – |
Source: USAspending.gov (U.S. Treasury).
Cities with similar totals
New Orleans and the cities ranked either side of it
FY2025 federal awards performed in each city, total dollars.
| Kansas City, MO | $3.1 billion |
| Long Beach, CA | $3.0 billion |
| New Orleans, LA (this page) | $3.0 billion |
| Las Vegas, NV | $2.7 billion |
| Jacksonville, FL | $2.7 billion |
Who pays and for what, FY2025
The agencies that obligated the most to New Orleans, 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 | $1.6 billion | 51.9% |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $346.6 million | 11.6% |
| Department of Energy | $184.3 million | 6.2% |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $178.5 million | 6.0% |
| Department of Education | $168.0 million | 5.6% |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | $119.7 million | 4.0% |
| Department of Homeland Security | $97.1 million | 3.2% |
| Environmental Protection Agency | $78.1 million | 2.6% |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $61.0 million | 2.0% |
| Department of the Interior | $56.9 million | 1.9% |
Top programs
| Program | FY2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers Assistance Listing 14.871 | $256.6 million | 8.6% |
| Federal Pell Grant Program Assistance Listing 84.063 | $115.7 million | 3.9% |
| Climate Pollution Reduction Grants Assistance Listing 66.046 | $50.0 million | 1.7% |
| Continuum of Care Program Assistance Listing 14.267 | $43.0 million | 1.4% |
| Airport Improvement Program, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Programs, and COVID-19 Airports Programs Assistance Listing 20.106 | $36.9 million | 1.2% |
| Higher Education Institutional Aid Assistance Listing 84.031 | $33.7 million | 1.1% |
| Head Start Assistance Listing 93.600 | $25.7 million | 0.9% |
| Health Center Program Assistance Listing 93.224 | $22.6 million | 0.8% |
| Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) Assistance Listing 14.195 | $22.2 million | 0.7% |
| Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants Program Assistance Listing 66.616 | $20.0 million | 0.7% |
Nearby on this site
Universities in New Orleans
- Administrators of Tulane Educational Fund$133M
- Delgado Community College$55M
- Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans$45M
- Xavier University of Louisiana$42M
- Dillard University$34M
- University of New Orleans Research and Technology Foundation$30M
- Southern University and A&M College System (New Orleans)$20M
- Loyola University New Orleans$12M
Questions and answers
- How much federal money does New Orleans get?
- $3.0 billion in FY2025 in awards performed in New Orleans, LA, according to USAspending.gov. That excludes most payments to individuals, which are published only by county.
- How much is that per resident?
- About $8,254 per resident, using the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate of 362,154 people.
- Which agency spends the most in New Orleans?
- The Department of Defense, with $1.6 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 (NEW ORLEANS) in LA, 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 (New Orleans city).
- How the figures are built, and what they leave out: sources and methods.