Where My Taxes Go

City profileOregonFiscal year 2025

How much federal money does Portland get?

Portland received $1.7 billion in federal awards in FY2025: $2,676 per resident, 53rd of 99 large cities by total.In fiscal year 2025, federal agencies obligated $1.7 billion in awards whose place of performance is Portland, OR, about $2,676 per resident.

FY2025 total
$1.7B
$1.7 billion
Per resident
$2,676
21% below the median city
Rank (total)
53rd
of 99 cities
FY2026 so far
$1.9B
preliminary

Portland is 58th of 99 large cities per resident

Federal awards per resident, FY2025, the 99 largest US cities on this site. Dashed line: median city.

$0$20K$40K$60KMedian city $3,367Portland, OR $2,676HighestLowest$0$20K$40K$60KMedian city $3,367Portland, OR $2,676HighestLowest

What the money is

That is down 24.4% from FY2024 ($2.2 billion). Compared with FY2019, the last year before pandemic relief, it is up 15.8%. The largest share came as contracts ($715.0 million). The Department of Defense obligated the most ($469.2 million), and the largest program was Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers ($174.2 million). By this measure Portland ranks 53rd 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 PORTLAND, state OR). 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 Oregon page, which includes those payments.

Federal money to Portland by year

Portland: $1.7B in FY2025, up 16% 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
$0$1B$2B$3BFY18FY19FY20FY21FY22FY23FY24FY25FY26*$1.7B$0$1B$2B$3B'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25'26*$1.7B
View every year as a table
Fiscal yearContractsGrantsDirect paymentsLoansInsurance and otherTotalPer resident
FY2018$571.5M$611.0M$236.5M-$3.1M$70,531$1.4B–
FY2019$483.0M$747.7M$246.0M-$9.6M$151,388$1.5B–
FY2020$727.9M$1.0B$380.9M-$4.0M$429,239$2.1B$3,254
FY2021$575.8M$1.2B$507.5M-$10.1M$639,599$2.3B$3,550
FY2022$494.3M$426.0M$269.1M-$4.8M$676,357$1.2B$1,863
FY2023$839.0M$521.8M$317.7M-$2.2M$287,528$1.7B$2,645
FY2024$717.0M$1.2B$330.0M-$918,902$252,289$2.2B$3,543
FY2025$715.0M$609.2M$375.2M-$362,688$398,594$1.7B$2,676
FY2026*$983.0M$563.6M$338.8M-$323,045$465,774$1.9B–

B = billion, M = million. Loans are the subsidy cost the government records. * FY2026 (October 2025 to September 2026) is preliminary: agencies keep reporting after the year ends, and Department of Defense contract data is published with a 90-day delay. Negative amounts are net de-obligations (money taken back from earlier awards).

Source: USAspending.gov (U.S. Treasury).

Cities with similar totals

Portland and the cities ranked either side of it

FY2025 federal awards performed in each city, total dollars.

Mesa, AZ$1.7 billion
Pittsburgh, PA$1.7 billion
Portland, OR (this page)$1.7 billion
Lexington, KY$1.6 billion
Detroit, MI$1.6 billion

Who pays and for what, FY2025

The agencies that obligated the most to Portland, 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

AgencyFY2025Share
Department of Defense$469.2 million27.6%
Department of Health and Human Services$372.2 million21.9%
Department of Housing and Urban Development$270.9 million15.9%
Department of Education$158.1 million9.3%
Department of Transportation$126.4 million7.4%
Department of Commerce$83.9 million4.9%
Department of Veterans Affairs$63.0 million3.7%
Department of the Interior$40.0 million2.4%
Department of Justice$22.1 million1.3%
Department of Homeland Security$18.6 million1.1%

Top programs

ProgramFY2025Share
Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers Assistance Listing 14.871$174.2 million10.2%
Federal Pell Grant Program Assistance Listing 84.063$124.3 million7.3%
Airport Improvement Program, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Programs, and COVID-19 Airports Programs Assistance Listing 20.106$34.4 million2.0%
Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) Assistance Listing 14.195$32.9 million1.9%
Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research Assistance Listing 93.855$29.1 million1.7%
Fisheries Disaster Relief Assistance Listing 11.477$28.8 million1.7%
Continuum of Care Program Assistance Listing 14.267$27.7 million1.6%
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance Assistance Listing 93.243$26.9 million1.6%
Head Start Assistance Listing 93.600$25.7 million1.5%
Fisheries Data Program Assistance Listing 11.437$24.4 million1.4%

Nearby on this site

Questions and answers

How much federal money does Portland get?
$1.7 billion in FY2025 in awards performed in Portland, OR, according to USAspending.gov. That excludes most payments to individuals, which are published only by county.
How much is that per resident?
About $2,676 per resident, using the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate of 635,109 people.
Which agency spends the most in Portland?
The Department of Defense, with $469.2 million in FY2025.

Sources and notes

  1. USAspending.gov (U.S. Department of the Treasury), API endpoints spending_over_time and spending_by_category, filtered by place of performance city (PORTLAND) in OR, fiscal years 2018–2026. Amounts are obligations in nominal dollars. Data retrieved 2026-10-04. Public domain.
  2. U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2025 city estimates (Portland city).
  3. How the figures are built, and what they leave out: sources and methods.