Where My Taxes Go

State profileFiscal year 2025Federal awards

How much federal money does Vermont get?

Vermont received $8.9 billion in federal money in FY2025: $13,760 per person, 10th of 51.In fiscal year 2025 (October 2024 to September 2025), federal agencies obligated $8.9 billion in contracts, grants, loans and direct payments with a place of performance in Vermont, or $13,760 per resident.

FY2025 total
$8.9B
$8.9 billion
Per resident
$13,760
17% above the US average
Rank
10th
per person, of 51
FY2026 so far
$8.3B
preliminary

Vermont ranks 10th of 51 per resident

Federal awards per resident, FY2025, 50 states and DC, highest to lowest. Dashed line: US average.

$0$10K$20K$30KDistrict of Columbia $70,232 (axis cut)US average $11,781Vermont $13,760HighestLowest$0$10K$20K$30KDistrict of Columbia $70,232 (axis cut)US average $11,781Vermont $13,760HighestLowest

What the money is

That is up 2.0% from FY2024 ($8.7 billion). Compared with FY2019, the last year before pandemic relief, it is up 54.0%. The largest share came as direct payments ($4.6 billion, 52.0% of the total). The agency obligating the most was the Social Security Administration with $4.0 billion, and the biggest single program was Social Security Retirement Insurance (Assistance Listing 96.002) at $3.2 billion. Among the 50 states and DC, Vermont ranks 50th by total and 10th per resident (full ranking).

For FY2026, which ended on 30 September 2026, $8.3 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.

Federal money to Vermont by year

Vermont: $8.9B in FY2025, up 54% 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
$0$2.5B$5B$7.5B$10BFY18FY19FY20FY21FY22FY23FY24FY25FY26*$8.9B$0$2.5B$5B$7.5B$10B'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25'26*$8.9B
View every year as a table
Fiscal yearContractsGrantsDirect paymentsLoansInsurance and otherTotalPer resident
FY2018$568.2M$2.0B$2.9B$4.8M$131.7M$5.6B–
FY2019$353.8M$2.2B$3.1B$3.1M$151.8M$5.8B–
FY2020$601.3M$2.5B$4.7B$1.3B$179.7M$9.3B$14,444
FY2021$393.5M$3.5B$5.2B$597.8M$219.4M$9.9B$15,322
FY2022$505.8M$3.2B$3.7B$18.7M$198.9M$7.6B$11,773
FY2023$423.9M$3.3B$4.1B$1.7M$129.1M$8.0B$12,368
FY2024$920.2M$3.4B$4.3B-$17.0M$96.3M$8.7B$13,449
FY2025$877.2M$3.3B$4.6B$5.1M$64.2M$8.9B$13,760
FY2026*$431.7M$3.4B$4.5B-$638,046$33.8M$8.3B–

B = billion, M = million. Loans are the subsidy cost the government records. * FY2026 (October 2025 to September 2026) is preliminary: agencies keep reporting after the year ends, and Department of Defense contract data is published with a 90-day delay. Negative amounts are net de-obligations (money taken back from earlier awards).

Source: USAspending.gov (U.S. Treasury).

How Vermont compares

Federal money per resident: Vermont and its neighbouring states

FY2025, dollars per resident. Grey bars are other states; the dark bar is the US average.

Vermont (this page)$13,760
Massachusetts$12,998
New York$12,150
New Hampshire$12,027
US average (50 states + DC)$11,781

Closest in the per-resident ranking: Maine ($14,939), Kentucky ($13,805), West Virginia ($13,499), Montana ($13,422).

Who pays and for what, FY2025

The agencies that obligated the most to Vermont, 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

AgencyFY2025Share
Social Security Administration$4.0 billion44.5%
Department of Health and Human Services$1.9 billion21.1%
Department of Defense$817.2 million9.2%
Department of Transportation$538.8 million6.1%
Department of Agriculture$364.5 million4.1%
Department of Veterans Affairs$305.4 million3.4%
Department of Homeland Security$301.8 million3.4%
Department of Education$192.8 million2.2%
Department of Housing and Urban Development$162.7 million1.8%
Environmental Protection Agency$155.1 million1.7%

Top programs

ProgramFY2025Share
Social Security Retirement Insurance Assistance Listing 96.002$3.2 billion36.5%
Grants to States for Medicaid Assistance Listing 93.778$1.5 billion17.0%
Highway Planning and Construction Assistance Listing 20.205$417.3 million4.7%
Social Security Disability Insurance Assistance Listing 96.001$384.1 million4.3%
Veterans Compensation for Service-Connected Disability Assistance Listing 64.109$233.2 million2.6%
Social Security Survivors Insurance Assistance Listing 96.004$217.2 million2.4%
Disaster Grants - Public Assistance (Presidentially Declared Disasters) Assistance Listing 97.036$178.9 million2.0%
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Assistance Listing 10.551$139.4 million1.6%
Supplemental Security Income Assistance Listing 96.006$109.4 million1.2%
Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers Assistance Listing 14.871$86.6 million1.0%

Where the money goes inside Vermont

Cities and universities with their own pages, by FY2025 federal awards.

Questions and answers

How much federal money did Vermont get in 2025?
In fiscal year 2025, federal agencies obligated $8.9 billion in awards with a place of performance in Vermont, according to USAspending.gov.
How much federal money does Vermont get per person?
About $13,760 per resident in FY2025, using the Census Bureau's July 2025 population estimate of 644,663.
Which federal agency spends the most in Vermont?
The Social Security Administration, with $4.0 billion in FY2025 (44.5% of the total).
What is the largest federal program in Vermont?
Social Security Retirement Insurance (Assistance Listing 96.002), with $3.2 billion obligated in FY2025.
Has federal spending in Vermont gone up?
Yes. FY2025 obligations of $8.9 billion compare with $5.8 billion in FY2019, a change of 54.0%.

Sources and notes

  1. USAspending.gov (U.S. Department of the Treasury), API endpoints spending_over_time and spending_by_category, filtered by place of performance state = VT, fiscal years 2018–2026. Amounts are obligations in nominal dollars. Data retrieved 2026-10-04. Public domain.
  2. 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.
  3. How the figures are built, and what they leave out: sources and methods.