University profileCambridge, MAFiscal year 2025
How much federal money does Harvard University (Cambridge) get?
Harvard University (Cambridge) received $254.3 million in federal awards in FY2025, 79th of 998 institutions (top 8%).In fiscal year 2025, federal agencies obligated $254.3 million to Harvard University (Cambridge) (Cambridge, MA), counting grants, contracts, loans and other awards.
Ranked 79th of 998 by federal awards
FY2025 federal awards, institutions ranked either side of Harvard University (Cambridge).
| University of Kentucky Research Foundation #76 · KY | $263M |
| University of Dayton #77 · OH | $262M |
| University of Missouri System (Columbia) #78 · MO | $258M |
| Harvard University (Cambridge) #79 · MA | $254M |
| University of Maryland, Baltimore #80 · MD | $246M |
| University of Central Florida #81 · FL | $243M |
| Rutgers the State University of New Jersey (Newark) #82 · NJ | $242M |
What the money is
That is down 35.4% from FY2024 ($393.5 million). Compared with FY2019, the last year before pandemic relief, it is down 27.1%. The largest share came as grants ($249.0 million, 97.9%). The Department of Health and Human Services was the biggest funder ($164.6 million). Its largest programs were Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research ($33.1 million); Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research ($19.1 million); Aging Research ($18.7 million). It ranks 79th of the 998 institutions on this site by FY2025 total.
What is counted: awards made directly to this institution, under the registered names HARVARD COLLEGE PRESIDENT & FELLOWS OF, PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE (UEI KH2AELJGEJW5, LN53LCFJFL45, ML98SNHE8XL1, UNVDZNFA8R29). Money that reaches it as a subaward through another organization is not included. Separately incorporated foundations, hospitals and laboratories have their own records and are not added in. Grouping rules are explained in the methodology.
Federal awards by year
Harvard University (Cambridge): $254M in FY2025, down 27% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2018 | $6.3M | $325.2M | $0 | $0 | $20,000 | $331.4M |
| FY2019 | $19.3M | $329.5M | $0 | $0 | $20,000 | $348.9M |
| FY2020 | $14.3M | $372.2M | $0 | $0 | $78,960 | $386.6M |
| FY2021 | $20.1M | $352.2M | $402,000 | $0 | $0 | $372.8M |
| FY2022 | $19.6M | $310.4M | $572,142 | $0 | $165,000 | $330.8M |
| FY2023 | $34.1M | $353.5M | $13.9M | $0 | $1.3M | $402.8M |
| FY2024 | $20.5M | $336.0M | $37.0M | $0 | $0 | $393.5M |
| FY2025 | $7.2M | $249.0M | -$2.4M | $0 | $454,522 | $254.3M |
| FY2026* | $8.5M | $302.0M | $18.7M | $0 | -$44,760 | $329.2M |
Source: USAspending.gov (U.S. Treasury).
Who pays and for what, FY2025
The agencies that obligated the most to Harvard University (Cambridge), 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 Health and Human Services | $164.6 million | 64.7% |
| National Science Foundation | $25.1 million | 9.9% |
| Department of Defense | $21.3 million | 8.4% |
| Department of the Interior | $18.1 million | 7.1% |
| Department of Education | $16.5 million | 6.5% |
| Department of Energy | $4.4 million | 1.7% |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | $3.1 million | 1.2% |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $1.0 million | 0.4% |
| Smithsonian Institution | $269,295 | 0.1% |
| Department of the Treasury | $200,000 | 0.1% |
Top programs
| Program | FY2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research Assistance Listing 93.855 | $33.1 million | 13.0% |
| Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research Assistance Listing 93.865 | $19.1 million | 7.5% |
| Aging Research Assistance Listing 93.866 | $18.7 million | 7.3% |
| Mental Health Research Grants Assistance Listing 93.242 | $14.9 million | 5.9% |
| Cancer Cause and Prevention Research Assistance Listing 93.393 | $13.5 million | 5.3% |
| Biomedical Research and Research Training Assistance Listing 93.859 | $12.2 million | 4.8% |
| Federal Pell Grant Program Assistance Listing 84.063 | $11.1 million | 4.4% |
| Cardiovascular Diseases Research Assistance Listing 93.837 | $11.0 million | 4.3% |
| STEM Education (formerly Education and Human Resources) Assistance Listing 47.076 | $8.1 million | 3.2% |
| Basic Scientific Research Assistance Listing 12.431 | $7.7 million | 3.0% |
Other institutions in Massachusetts
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Lexington)$1.4B
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge)$443M
- Boston University$420M
- University of Massachusetts Medical School$276M
- University of Massachusetts (Amherst)$165M
- Harvard University (Boston)$156M
- Northeastern University$149M
- Tufts College (Boston)$117M
Questions and answers
- How much federal funding does Harvard University receive?
- $254.3 million in fiscal year 2025, according to USAspending.gov award data for its registered UEI(s).
- Where does Harvard University's federal money come from?
- The largest funder in FY2025 was the Department of Health and Human Services ($164.6 million, 64.7%). By type, grants were $249.0 million and contracts $7.2 million.
- Did Harvard University's federal funding go up or down?
- FY2025: $254.3 million; FY2024: $393.5 million (-35.4%).
Sources and notes
- USAspending.gov (U.S. Department of the Treasury), API endpoints spending_over_time and spending_by_category, filtered by recipient ID(s) 3c727a6e-aeb7-b7bb-b622-36f566d604a5-C, f5f39b56-5a70-1fe5-798f-b53ffca1e353-C, d5750fbc-ef61-2667-d528-79e4c07c5a10-C, 40c6305f-0934-a080-ea90-a7fe93fea11a-C, fiscal years 2018–2026. Amounts are obligations in nominal dollars. Data retrieved 2026-10-04. Public domain.
- How the figures are built, and what they leave out: sources and methods.