City profileCaliforniaFiscal year 2025
How much federal money does San Diego get?
San Diego received $11.4 billion in federal awards in FY2025: $8,118 per resident, 8th of 99 large cities by total.In fiscal year 2025, federal agencies obligated $11.4 billion in awards whose place of performance is San Diego, CA, about $8,118 per resident.
San Diego is 21st 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 3.0% from FY2024 ($11.1 billion). Compared with FY2019, the last year before pandemic relief, it is up 6.6%. The largest share came as contracts ($9.9 billion). The Department of Defense obligated the most ($8.2 billion), and the largest program was Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers ($594.9 million). By this measure San Diego ranks 8th 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 SAN DIEGO, 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 San Diego by year
San Diego: $11B 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 | $7.9B | $573.5M | $648.3M | -$52.9M | $7.7M | $9.1B | – |
| FY2019 | $9.6B | $601.6M | $693.1M | -$178.7M | $124,573 | $10.7B | – |
| FY2020 | $8.7B | $761.8M | $941.0M | -$151.5M | $359,115 | $10.3B | $7,447 |
| FY2021 | $7.4B | $1.1B | $1.1B | -$240.4M | $97,682 | $9.4B | $6,884 |
| FY2022 | $10.0B | $535.1M | $691.0M | -$228.0M | $2.8M | $11.0B | $7,924 |
| FY2023 | $8.7B | $741.1M | $743.4M | -$228.3M | $757,724 | $10.0B | $7,193 |
| FY2024 | $9.6B | $817.3M | $813.0M | -$173.8M | $12.7M | $11.1B | $7,912 |
| FY2025 | $9.9B | $629.4M | $922.9M | -$48.2M | $722,605 | $11.4B | $8,118 |
| FY2026* | $10.4B | $635.8M | $884.8M | -$251.5M | $7.0M | $11.7B | – |
Source: USAspending.gov (U.S. Treasury).
Cities with similar totals
San Diego and the cities ranked either side of it
FY2025 federal awards performed in each city, total dollars.
| Austin, TX | $12.2 billion |
| Orlando, FL | $11.4 billion |
| San Diego, CA (this page) | $11.4 billion |
| St. Louis, MO | $10.0 billion |
| Atlanta, GA | $9.5 billion |
Who pays and for what, FY2025
The agencies that obligated the most to San Diego, 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 | $8.2 billion | 72.0% |
| Department of Homeland Security | $882.6 million | 7.7% |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $599.2 million | 5.2% |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $419.6 million | 3.7% |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $319.7 million | 2.8% |
| Department of Energy | $313.3 million | 2.7% |
| Department of Education | $238.6 million | 2.1% |
| Environmental Protection Agency | $82.6 million | 0.7% |
| General Services Administration | $78.3 million | 0.7% |
| Department of Transportation | $74.8 million | 0.7% |
Top programs
| Program | FY2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers Assistance Listing 14.871 | $594.9 million | 5.2% |
| Federal Pell Grant Program Assistance Listing 84.063 | $181.8 million | 1.6% |
| Federal Loan Guarantees for Innovative Energy Technologies Assistance Listing 81.126 | $150.2 million | 1.3% |
| Office of Science Financial Assistance Program Assistance Listing 81.049 | $115.3 million | 1.0% |
| Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) Assistance Listing 14.195 | $110.6 million | 1.0% |
| Head Start Assistance Listing 93.600 | $97.4 million | 0.9% |
| Clean Ports Program Assistance Listing 66.051 | $58.6 million | 0.5% |
| Airport Improvement Program, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Programs, and COVID-19 Airports Programs Assistance Listing 20.106 | $50.1 million | 0.4% |
| Aging Research Assistance Listing 93.866 | $39.4 million | 0.3% |
| Continuum of Care Program Assistance Listing 14.267 | $35.8 million | 0.3% |
Nearby on this site
Other cities in California
- Los Angeles$4.6B
- San Jose$1.3B
- San Francisco$4.8B
- Fresno$665M
- Sacramento$7.8B
- Long Beach$3B
- Oakland$1.3B
- Bakersfield$481M
Universities in San Diego
Questions and answers
- How much federal money does San Diego get?
- $11.4 billion in FY2025 in awards performed in San Diego, CA, according to USAspending.gov. That excludes most payments to individuals, which are published only by county.
- How much is that per resident?
- About $8,118 per resident, using the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate of 1,406,106 people.
- Which agency spends the most in San Diego?
- The Department of Defense, with $8.2 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 (SAN DIEGO) 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 (San Diego city).
- How the figures are built, and what they leave out: sources and methods.