Foster careFY2025 and FY2026 to date
How much does the federal government spend on foster care?
$10.0 billion in fiscal year 2025: 0.14% of all federal spending.That is about $29 per US resident, or $61 per individual tax return. In FY2026 through August 2026 it spent $9.7 billion, up 7% on the same months of FY2025 ($9.1 billion). Treasury figures for federal foster care and adoption assistance (Title IV-E).
By year
Foster care and adoption assistance: $7.3 billion in FY2015, $10.0 billion in FY2025
Net outlays by fiscal year (October to September), nominal dollars · FY2026* = to August 2026
Every year as a table, with the share of federal outlays
| Fiscal year | Net outlays | Share of federal outlays |
|---|---|---|
| FY2026 to Aug '26 | $9.7 billion | 0.14% |
| FY2025 | $10.0 billion | 0.14% |
| FY2024 | $10.1 billion | 0.15% |
| FY2023 | $9.8 billion | 0.16% |
| FY2022 | $9.2 billion | 0.15% |
| FY2021 | $9.7 billion | 0.14% |
| FY2020 | $8.8 billion | 0.13% |
| FY2019 | $8.6 billion | 0.19% |
| FY2018 | $8.6 billion | 0.21% |
| FY2017 | $7.7 billion | 0.19% |
| FY2016 | $7.7 billion | 0.20% |
| FY2015 | $7.3 billion | 0.20% |
U.S. Treasury, Monthly Treasury Statement, Table 5.
By month
Largest month: July 2026, $1.1 billion
Net outlays in each month. Large one-month amounts are usually lump-sum transfers or accounting adjustments.
Monthly figures as a table
| Month | Outlays in the month | Fiscal year to date |
|---|---|---|
| August 2026 | $792.3 million | $9.7 billion |
| July 2026 | $1.1 billion | $8.9 billion |
| June 2026 | $880.7 million | $7.8 billion |
| May 2026 | $891.4 million | $7.0 billion |
| April 2026 | $923.8 million | $6.1 billion |
| March 2026 | $857.0 million | $5.1 billion |
| February 2026 | $786.8 million | $4.3 billion |
| January 2026 | $1.0 billion | $3.5 billion |
| December 2025 | $764.6 million | $2.5 billion |
| November 2025 | $825.1 million | $1.7 billion |
| October 2025 | $901.0 million | $901.0 million |
| September 2025 | $879.8 million | $10.0 billion |
| August 2025 | $758.9 million | $9.1 billion |
| July 2025 | $903.0 million | $8.3 billion |
| June 2025 | $691.1 million | $7.4 billion |
| May 2025 | $863.2 million | $6.8 billion |
| April 2025 | $920.6 million | $5.9 billion |
| March 2025 | $792.7 million | $5.0 billion |
| February 2025 | $857.3 million | $4.2 billion |
| January 2025 | $912.7 million | $3.3 billion |
| December 2024 | $730.9 million | $2.4 billion |
| November 2024 | $772.4 million | $1.7 billion |
| October 2024 | $903.8 million | $903.8 million |
| September 2024 | $738.1 million | $10.1 billion |
U.S. Treasury, Monthly Treasury Statement, Table 5.
Foster care and other family programs
Net outlays from the same Treasury table.
| Account | FY2015 | FY2025 | FY2026 so far |
|---|---|---|---|
| TANF | $15.9B | $17.7B | $16.1B |
| Child care (CCDBG + entitlement) | $5.1B | $14.8B | $12.1B |
| Foster care and adoption | $7.3B | $10.0B | $9.7B |
| LIHEAP | $3.4B | $4.4B | $3.9B |
| Refugee and entrant assistance | $1.3B | $5.8B | $3.8B |
| All of ACF | $50.2B | $75.7B | $65.6B |
On your tax bill
Federal spending is paid for by all taxes and borrowing together, so each dollar of federal income tax is split in proportion to spending. Foster care and adoption assistance took 0.14% of it in FY2025.
| Income | Income tax | To foster care and adoption assistance |
|---|---|---|
| $40,000 | $2,620 | $3.73 |
| $60,000 | $5,020 | $7.15 |
| $75,000 | $7,670 | $10.93 |
| $100,000 | $13,170 | $18.76 |
| $150,000 | $24,734 | $35.24 |
What this counts
Outlays of HHS's Payments to States for Foster Care and Adoption Assistance (Title IV-E of the Social Security Act): the federal share of foster care maintenance payments, adoption and guardianship assistance, and related administration and training. States and counties pay the rest.
Figures are net outlays: payments made, minus any offsetting collections credited to the same accounts, as printed in the Monthly Treasury Statement. They are not adjusted for inflation. In the budget-function view it falls under welfare, food stamps and income support.
Questions and answers
- How much does the US spend on foster care and adoption assistance a year?
- $10.0 billion in fiscal year 2025 (October 2024 to September 2025), in net outlays recorded by the Treasury for federal foster care and adoption assistance (Title IV-E). In FY2024 it was $10.1 billion.
- What share of the federal budget goes to foster care and adoption assistance?
- 0.14% of all federal outlays in FY2025 ($10.0 billion of $7.01 trillion): about $1 of every $1,000 the government spent.
- How much is that per person?
- About $29 per US resident in FY2025, or $27.4 million a day.
- How much does foster care and adoption assistance cost per taxpayer?
- About $61 per individual income tax return: $10.0 billion divided by the 162.8 million individual returns the IRS received in FY2025. Federal spending is paid for by all taxes and borrowing together, so this is an average, not what any one taxpayer pays; your tax receipt shows your own share.
- How much has been spent on foster care and adoption assistance in 2026?
- In FY2026 through August 2026 it spent $9.7 billion, up 7% on the same months of FY2025 ($9.1 billion). Fiscal year 2026 ended on 30 September 2026; the September statement, published in mid-October, completes it.
- Has spending on foster care and adoption assistance gone up?
- From $7.3 billion in FY2015 to $10.0 billion in FY2025, +37% in nominal dollars.
- Is this the budget or actual spending?
- Actual spending: outlays are what the Treasury paid out in each fiscal year. The budget Congress passes sets budget authority (what an agency may commit), which can be spent over several years, so appropriations in the news can differ from these figures.
Related
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- Supplemental Security Incomeby year
- Earned Income Tax Creditby year
- Unemployment insuranceby year
- School mealsby year
- Child Tax Creditby year
- What % of taxes go to welfare, food stamps and income supportby year
- Every federal program62 programs
Sources and notes
- U.S. Department of the Treasury, Monthly Treasury Statement, Table 5: Outlays of the U.S. Government, line "Payments to States for Foster Care and Adoption Assistance", every month from March 2015 to 2026-08-31, Fiscal Data API. Public domain.
- Per tax return: 162,754,810 individual income tax returns filed in FY2025, IRS Data Book Table 1-2.
- Population: U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 estimates, 50 states and DC.
- Tax on your bill: 2026 IRS brackets and standard deduction (Rev. Proc. 2025-32 as amended), as in our calculator.