2010 Federal Expenditures or Obligations Highlights

•	 Federal domestic spending increased 2.4 percent in fiscal year 2010 to $3.3 trillion. The 2010 spending total is

equivalent to $10,612 per person living in the United States. Federal spending includes expenditures or obligations for

grants, salaries and wages, procurement contracts, direct payments for individuals for retirement and disability, and

other direct payments.

•	 Entitlement programs Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security comprised 47.4 percent of all funding, or $1.6 trillion.

Social Security alone accounted for $743.2 billion of that total.

•	 	States with the highest per capita federal spending were Alaska ($17,762), Virginia ($17,008), and Maryland ($16,673).

States with the lowest were Nevada ($7,321), Minnesota ($8,367), and Utah ($8,519).

2010 Federal Expenditures or Obligations by Category

Grants

•	 Federal spending for grants in fiscal year 2010 totaled $683.4 billion, or 20.9 percent of all federal spending. Three

federal departments accounted for 77.6 percent of all federal grants money in 2010—Health and Human Services

($407.4 billion), Transportation ($64.3 billion), and Education ($58.4 billion).

Salaries and Wages

•	 Salaries and wages for federal employees accounted for $342.9 billion (10.5 percent) of all federal spending. The largest share of this category went to Department of Defense payrolls (53.1 percent), federal civilian payrolls (29.3 percent), and U.S. Postal Service payrolls (17.6 percent).

Procurement Contracts

•	 Procurement contracts totaled $516.7 billion, or 15.8 percent of federal spending. The largest share of contracts

were awarded by the Department of Defense ($331.2 billion), followed by all other federal government except the

U.S. Postal Service and Department of Defense ($170.4 billion), and the U.S. Postal Service ($15.3 billion).

Direct Payments for Individuals for Retirement and Disability, and Other Direct Payments

•	 Retirement and disability accounted for 27.9 percent of all federal spending at $914.8 billion, while other direct payments (e.g., housing assistance, unemployment compensation, Medicare) made up 25.0 percent at $818.6 billion.

Other Highlights

•	 The federal government committed $1.8 trillion in direct loans, guaranteed or insured loans, and insurance. Direct

loans were $88.5 billion, led by federal direct student loans ($73.0 billion). Guaranteed or insured loans totaled $426.6

billion, led by home mortgage insurance loans ($275.2 billion). Insurance totaled $1.3 trillion, with the largest share

going to flood insurance ($1.2 trillion).

Consolidated Federal Funds Report for

Fiscal Year 2010 (CFFR)

Released September 2011

Population figures used to calculate per capita figures for the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and all counties come from the 2010 

Census. These can be found at <http://factfinder2.census.gov>.

Data in the report are not subject to sampling variability but are subject to nonsampling errors, which include errors of response and 

processing. For more information on these errors, see the Reliability of the Data section in the Consolidated Federal Funds Report for

Fiscal Year 2010.

Report does not include interest paid on the federal debt or foreign aid.