City profileArizonaFiscal year 2025
How much federal money does Tucson get?
Tucson received $13.7 billion in federal awards in FY2025: $25,020 per resident, 3rd of 99 large cities by total.In fiscal year 2025, federal agencies obligated $13.7 billion in awards whose place of performance is Tucson, AZ, about $25,020 per resident.
Tucson is 6th 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 21.8% from FY2024 ($11.3 billion). Compared with FY2019, the last year before pandemic relief, it is up 87.5%. The largest share came as contracts ($12.7 billion). The Department of Defense obligated the most ($12.1 billion), and the largest program was Federal Pell Grant Program ($159.4 million). By this measure Tucson ranks 3rd 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 TUCSON, state AZ). 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 Arizona page, which includes those payments.
Federal money to Tucson by year
Tucson: $14B in FY2025, up 88% 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 | $7.2B | $446.2M | $195.3M | $1.1M | $2.9M | $7.8B | – |
| FY2019 | $6.6B | $532.1M | $184.5M | -$9.7M | $1.8M | $7.3B | – |
| FY2020 | $9.3B | $598.6M | $319.2M | -$4.3M | $913,303 | $10.2B | $18,839 |
| FY2021 | $6.8B | $858.7M | $521.9M | -$13.8M | $1.2M | $8.2B | $15,115 |
| FY2022 | $9.2B | $497.1M | $221.1M | -$7.7M | $7.8M | $9.9B | $18,062 |
| FY2023 | $10.1B | $749.2M | $212.3M | -$3.6M | $1.2M | $11.1B | $20,160 |
| FY2024 | $10.3B | $669.9M | $241.7M | $29.5M | $3.1M | $11.3B | $20,455 |
| FY2025 | $12.7B | $801.3M | $260.4M | -$6.9M | $1.3M | $13.7B | $25,020 |
| FY2026* | $13.3B | $585.0M | $257.7M | -$13.4M | $3.3M | $14.1B | – |
Source: USAspending.gov (U.S. Treasury).
Cities with similar totals
Tucson and the cities ranked either side of it
FY2025 federal awards performed in each city, total dollars.
| Fort Worth, TX | $32.8 billion |
| New York City, NY | $15.3 billion |
| Tucson, AZ (this page) | $13.7 billion |
| Huntsville, AL | $12.9 billion |
| Irving, TX | $12.4 billion |
Who pays and for what, FY2025
The agencies that obligated the most to Tucson, 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 | $12.1 billion | 88.6% |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $211.4 million | 1.5% |
| Department of Energy | $206.6 million | 1.5% |
| Department of Education | $180.0 million | 1.3% |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $145.1 million | 1.1% |
| National Science Foundation | $132.6 million | 1.0% |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $131.1 million | 1.0% |
| General Services Administration | $125.6 million | 0.9% |
| Department of Transportation | $110.2 million | 0.8% |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | $88.4 million | 0.6% |
Top programs
| Program | FY2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Federal Pell Grant Program Assistance Listing 84.063 | $159.4 million | 1.2% |
| Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chain Demonstrations and Commercial Applications Assistance Listing 81.253 | $123.0 million | 0.9% |
| Mathematical and Physical Sciences Assistance Listing 47.049 | $101.4 million | 0.7% |
| Grid Infrastructure Deployment and Resilience Assistance Listing 81.254 | $75.0 million | 0.5% |
| Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers Assistance Listing 14.871 | $65.0 million | 0.5% |
| Airport Improvement Program, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Programs, and COVID-19 Airports Programs Assistance Listing 20.106 | $64.3 million | 0.5% |
| Science Assistance Listing 43.001 | $48.2 million | 0.4% |
| Affordable Rural Cooperative Assistance Listing 10.758 | $43.3 million | 0.3% |
| National Infrastructure Investments Assistance Listing 20.933 | $40.6 million | 0.3% |
| Aging Research Assistance Listing 93.866 | $31.6 million | 0.2% |
Nearby on this site
Other cities in Arizona
Federal money to ArizonaUniversities in Tucson
Questions and answers
- How much federal money does Tucson get?
- $13.7 billion in FY2025 in awards performed in Tucson, AZ, according to USAspending.gov. That excludes most payments to individuals, which are published only by county.
- How much is that per resident?
- About $25,020 per resident, using the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate of 548,371 people.
- Which agency spends the most in Tucson?
- The Department of Defense, with $12.1 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 (TUCSON) in AZ, 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 (Tucson city).
- How the figures are built, and what they leave out: sources and methods.