State profileFiscal year 2025Federal awards
How much federal money does South Dakota get?
South Dakota received $11.4 billion in federal money in FY2025: $12,162 per person, 20th of 51.In fiscal year 2025 (October 2024 to September 2025), federal agencies obligated $11.4 billion in contracts, grants, loans and direct payments with a place of performance in South Dakota, or $12,162 per resident.
South Dakota ranks 20th of 51 per resident
Federal awards per resident, FY2025, 50 states and DC, highest to lowest. Dashed line: US average.
What the money is
That is up 4.3% from FY2024 ($10.9 billion). Compared with FY2019, the last year before pandemic relief, it is up 41.9%. The largest share came as direct payments ($7.1 billion, 62.3% of the total). The agency obligating the most was the Social Security Administration with $4.6 billion, and the biggest single program was Social Security Retirement Insurance (Assistance Listing 96.002) at $3.8 billion. Among the 50 states and DC, South Dakota ranks 48th by total and 20th per resident (full ranking).
For FY2026, which ended on 30 September 2026, $11.3 billion has been reported so far. That figure will rise as late reports arrive, so the comparisons on this page use FY2025, the latest complete year.
These are award obligations recorded on USAspending.gov, the official source for federal award data. They include Social Security and other direct payments, Medicaid and other grants to the state, and federal contracts performed there. They do not include federal salaries, interest on the debt, or tax refunds.
Medicare is left out. USAspending records Medicare benefit payments (Parts A, B and D) at the location of the contractor that processes the claims, not where patients live, so they would distort this state. In FY2025, $128.4 million of Medicare payments was recorded in this state; it is not in the figures on this page.
Federal money to South Dakota by year
South Dakota: $11B in FY2025, up 42% 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 | $765.2M | $1.9B | $4.1B | $8.8M | $441.3M | $7.2B | – |
| FY2019 | $941.1M | $2.0B | $4.6B | $15.1M | $432.5M | $8.0B | – |
| FY2020 | $979.0M | $2.6B | $7.2B | $1.8B | $601.7M | $13.1B | $14,795 |
| FY2021 | $623.6M | $3.8B | $8.1B | $1.1B | $368.5M | $14.0B | $15,653 |
| FY2022 | $1.2B | $3.0B | $5.4B | $24.8M | $1.3B | $10.9B | $11,956 |
| FY2023 | $1.0B | $3.0B | $5.5B | -$9.7M | $254.1M | $9.8B | $10,677 |
| FY2024 | $1.3B | $3.6B | $5.8B | $934,898 | $202.8M | $10.9B | $11,756 |
| FY2025 | $804.3M | $3.3B | $7.1B | $2.8M | $140.8M | $11.4B | $12,162 |
| FY2026* | $800.9M | $3.5B | $6.9B | -$11.1M | $126.0M | $11.3B | – |
Source: USAspending.gov (U.S. Treasury).
How South Dakota compares
Federal money per resident: South Dakota and its neighbouring states
FY2025, dollars per resident. Grey bars are other states; the dark bar is the US average.
| Montana | $13,422 |
| North Dakota | $13,150 |
| South Dakota (this page) | $12,162 |
| Wyoming | $11,876 |
| US average (50 states + DC) | $11,781 |
| Iowa | $11,242 |
| Nebraska | $10,810 |
| Minnesota | $10,328 |
Who pays and for what, FY2025
The agencies that obligated the most to South Dakota, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Social Security Administration | $4.6 billion | 40.5% |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $1.9 billion | 16.5% |
| Department of Agriculture | $1.3 billion | 11.6% |
| Department of Transportation | $786.6 million | 6.9% |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $750.5 million | 6.6% |
| Department of the Interior | $642.2 million | 5.6% |
| Department of Defense | $370.4 million | 3.3% |
| Department of Education | $368.2 million | 3.2% |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $137.5 million | 1.2% |
| Environmental Protection Agency | $117.9 million | 1.0% |
Top programs
| Program | FY2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Social Security Retirement Insurance Assistance Listing 96.002 | $3.8 billion | 33.9% |
| Grants to States for Medicaid Assistance Listing 93.778 | $1.2 billion | 10.7% |
| Veterans Compensation for Service-Connected Disability Assistance Listing 64.109 | $544.8 million | 4.8% |
| Highway Planning and Construction Assistance Listing 20.205 | $514.8 million | 4.5% |
| Emergency Commodity Assistance Program Assistance Listing 10.121 | $482.5 million | 4.2% |
| Social Security Disability Insurance Assistance Listing 96.001 | $347.6 million | 3.1% |
| Supplemental Disaster Relief Program Assistance Listing 10.988 | $289.0 million | 2.5% |
| Social Security Survivors Insurance Assistance Listing 96.004 | $288.3 million | 2.5% |
| Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Assistance Listing 10.551 | $149.1 million | 1.3% |
| Supplemental Security Income Assistance Listing 96.006 | $120.9 million | 1.1% |
Where the money goes inside South Dakota
Cities and universities with their own pages, by FY2025 federal awards.
Universities and colleges in South Dakota
Questions and answers
- How much federal money did South Dakota get in 2025?
- In fiscal year 2025, federal agencies obligated $11.4 billion in awards with a place of performance in South Dakota, according to USAspending.gov.
- How much federal money does South Dakota get per person?
- About $12,162 per resident in FY2025, using the Census Bureau's July 2025 population estimate of 935,094.
- Which federal agency spends the most in South Dakota?
- The Social Security Administration, with $4.6 billion in FY2025 (40.5% of the total).
- What is the largest federal program in South Dakota?
- Social Security Retirement Insurance (Assistance Listing 96.002), with $3.8 billion obligated in FY2025.
- Has federal spending in South Dakota gone up?
- Yes. FY2025 obligations of $11.4 billion compare with $8.0 billion in FY2019, a change of 41.9%.
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 state = SD, fiscal years 2018–2026. Amounts are obligations in nominal dollars. Data retrieved 2026-10-04. Public domain.
- U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 population estimates (July 1 of each year). Per-resident figures use the estimate for the July inside the fiscal year.
- How the figures are built, and what they leave out: sources and methods.