Foreign aidWestern HemisphereFiscal year 2025
US foreign aid to El Salvador
The US gave El Salvador $138.7 million in foreign aid in FY2025: $21.79 per person, 36th of 173 recipient countries.In fiscal year 2025 (October 2024 to September 2025), US government agencies obligated $138.7 million in foreign assistance for El Salvador and disbursed $159.6 million, according to ForeignAssistance.gov.
El Salvador ranks 36th of 173 recipient countries
US foreign aid obligated in FY2025, every recipient country, highest to lowest.
What the numbers show
FY2025 obligations were down 39.0% from $227.4 million in FY2024, and compare with an average of $147.9 million a year over FY2015–FY2024. The highest year since FY2015 was FY2015, at $331.3 million. In total, $1.6 billion was obligated over FY2015–FY2025.
The agency that managed the most aid for El Salvador in FY2025 was the U.S. Agency for International Development ($117.4 million, 84.6% of the total). By sector, the largest was Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance ($50.4 million, 36.4%). That sector includes: Rule of Law and Human Rights; Good Governance; Civil Society; Political Competition and Consensus-Building. ForeignAssistance.gov classified $880,760 (0.6%) as military assistance and the rest as economic assistance.
For FY2026, $2.8 million has been reported so far. Agencies report to ForeignAssistance.gov quarterly and with a lag, so this page uses FY2025 for comparisons. The figures cover aid recorded for El Salvador itself; regional and worldwide programs that also benefit it are counted separately (see the Western Hemisphere page).
US aid to El Salvador by year
El Salvador: $139M in FY2025, against a peak of $331M in FY2015
Obligations by fiscal year and managing agency, FY2015–FY2026, nominal dollars. FY26* is incomplete. Net de-obligations are drawn as zero.
- Other agencies
- Defense Department
- State Department
- USAID
View every year as a table
| Fiscal year | USAID | State Department | Defense Department | Other agencies | Total obligated | Disbursed | Per person | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2015 | $50.0M | $2.5M | $6.1M | $272.7M | $331.3M | $75.3M | $53.58 | 23 |
| FY2016 | $58.6M | $3.7M | $7.1M | $5.7M | $75.1M | $91.5M | $12.12 | 60 |
| FY2017 | $104.0M | $3.1M | $6.3M | $4.6M | $118.0M | $94.2M | $18.99 | 53 |
| FY2018 | $79.3M | $6.7M | $4.2M | $5.4M | $95.5M | $124.7M | $15.36 | 59 |
| FY2019 | $72.2M | $7.9M | $5.0M | $3.4M | $88.4M | $194.8M | $14.21 | 62 |
| FY2020 | $59.8M | $27.6M | $565,692 | $5.3M | $93.2M | $198.3M | $14.95 | 63 |
| FY2021 | $113.3M | $14.2M | $250,196 | -$3.2M | $124.5M | $115.5M | $19.91 | 51 |
| FY2022 | $124.3M | $30.2M | $118,780 | $2.8M | $157.5M | $126.0M | $25.08 | 55 |
| FY2023 | $138.2M | $27.5M | $45,823 | $2.1M | $167.9M | $163.2M | $26.61 | 52 |
| FY2024 | $144.8M | $50.1M | $134,600 | $32.3M | $227.4M | $188.5M | $35.87 | 45 |
| FY2025 | $117.4M | $19.2M | $80,760 | $2.0M | $138.7M | $159.6M | $21.79 | 36 |
| FY2026* | -$732,706 | $3.0M | $0 | $525,688 | $2.8M | $16.0M | $0.43 | 56 |
Source: ForeignAssistance.gov (U.S. Department of State).
Who manages it and what it pays for, FY2025
By managing agency
| Managing agency | FY2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. Agency for International Development | $117.4 million | 84.6% |
| Department of State | $19.2 million | 13.9% |
| Peace Corps | $1.9 million | 1.4% |
| Department of Agriculture | $101,218 | 0.1% |
| Department of Defense | $80,760 | 0.1% |
| Department of Transportation | $840 | 0.0% |
By sector
| Sector | FY2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance | $50.4 million | 36.4% |
| Economic Development | $32.0 million | 23.1% |
| Program Support | $23.0 million | 16.6% |
| Education and Social Services | $16.7 million | 12.0% |
| Health | $10.9 million | 7.8% |
| Humanitarian Assistance | $3.9 million | 2.8% |
| Peace and Security | $1.7 million | 1.2% |
| Environment | $101,218 | 0.1% |
Largest program areas
| Program area | FY2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Good Governance | $37.6 million | 27.1% |
| Private Sector Competitiveness | $28.1 million | 20.2% |
| Direct Administrative Costs | $23.0 million | 16.6% |
| Basic Education | $13.5 million | 9.7% |
| Rule of Law and Human Rights | $9.8 million | 7.1% |
| Pandemic Influenza and Other Emerging Threats (PIOET) | $9.0 million | 6.5% |
| Higher Education | $3.2 million | 2.3% |
| Civil Society | $3.0 million | 2.2% |
| Trade and Investment | $3.0 million | 2.2% |
| Protection, Assistance and Solutions | $2.5 million | 1.8% |
Sectors over the last five years
| Sector | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance | $43.7M | $58.3M | $50.5M | $71.4M | $50.4M |
| Program Support | $27.7M | $39.0M | $38.4M | $50.7M | $23.0M |
| Economic Development | $20.1M | $8.6M | $21.8M | $11.6M | $32.0M |
| Education and Social Services | $9.3M | $16.3M | $20.1M | $13.4M | $16.7M |
| Health | $8.7M | $5.1M | $8.1M | $38.5M | $10.9M |
| Peace and Security | $9.2M | $11.8M | $14.6M | $28.3M | $1.7M |
| Humanitarian Assistance | $5.6M | $18.4M | $14.1M | $13.6M | $3.9M |
| Environment | $130,000 | $0 | $301,500 | $24,351 | $101,218 |
| Multi-sector | $96,766 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Who carried out the work, FY2025
Implementing partners by type, as reported to ForeignAssistance.gov. “Government” includes US agencies that carry out programs themselves and partner-country governments.
| Partner type | FY2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprises | $61.8 million | 44.5% |
| NGO | $47.7 million | 34.4% |
| Government | $14.1 million | 10.1% |
| Universities and Research Institutes | $11.1 million | 8.0% |
| Multilateral | $4.1 million | 3.0% |
How El Salvador compares
Countries with similar US aid totals in FY2025
US foreign aid obligated, FY2025.
| Honduras | $142.4 million |
| Zimbabwe | $140.1 million |
| El Salvador (this page) | $138.7 million |
| Ghana | $137.7 million |
| Mali | $136.1 million |
Other countries in the Western Hemisphere
All of the Western HemisphereMore on US foreign aid
Questions and answers
- How much foreign aid does the US give El Salvador?
- $138.7 million was obligated in fiscal year 2025 and $159.6 million disbursed, according to ForeignAssistance.gov. Over FY2015–FY2025 the total obligated was $1.6 billion.
- How much US aid does El Salvador get per person?
- About $21.79 per person in FY2025, using the World Bank population estimate of 6,365,503.
- How much USAID funding goes to El Salvador?
- USAID managed $117.4 million of the FY2025 total (84.6%), more than any other agency.
- What is US aid to El Salvador spent on?
- In FY2025, by sector: Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance $50.4 million (36.4%); Economic Development $32.0 million (23.1%); Program Support $23.0 million (16.6%); Education and Social Services $16.7 million (12.0%).
- Has US aid to El Salvador gone up or down?
- FY2025: $138.7 million; FY2024: $227.4 million (down 39.0%). The peak since FY2015 was FY2015 ($331.3 million).
- Does the US give military aid to El Salvador?
- In FY2025, $880,760 (0.6%) of obligations for El Salvador was classified as military assistance on ForeignAssistance.gov, and the Department of Defense managed $80,760.
Sources and notes
- ForeignAssistance.gov (U.S. Department of State), complete dataset (us_foreign_aid_complete.csv), version of 02 Sep 2026, retrieved 2026-10-06. Obligations and disbursements in current (nominal) US dollars by U.S. fiscal year (October to September), FY2015–FY2026; FY2026 is incomplete. Public domain.
- Population: World Bank, World Development Indicators, SP.POP.TOTL (updated 2026-07-13), CC BY 4.0.
- Per-person figures divide the fiscal-year obligations by the World Bank population for the same calendar year.
- How the figures are built, and what they leave out: method and caveats.