Federal Domestic Spending Up 8% In 2002.

The federal government spent $1.9 trillion in the states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and outlying areas during 2002, according to two reports released by the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau. This was an 8 percent increase over 2001.

Consolidated Federal Funds Report for Fiscal Year 2002 (State and County Areas) covers benefits, subsidies, grants, goods and services, and salaries and wages. The largest item excluded is interest on the federal debt. A companion report, Federal Aid to States for Fiscal Year 2002, contains federal agency and program-level data on grants to state and
local governments.

Californians benefitted the most, receiving $206 billion, followed by the people of New York ($129 billion), Texas ($123 billion), Florida ($105 billion) and Pennsylvania ($86 billion). One-third of all federal expenditures went to people living in these five states, which account for 36 percent of the total U.S. population.

Altogether, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid accounted for $890 billion (47 percent) of the U.S. government’s 2002 domestic spending.

The largest increases in fiscal year 2002 federal spending were in the categories of “other direct payments,” grants and procurement awards. Other direct payments included Medicare at $251 billion, up 5.8 percent, plus unemployment compensation, excess earned income tax credits and food stamps. The total of other direct payments was $422 billion, a 12 percent increase over 2001.

Grant awards climbed to $412 billion, an 11.6 percent increase over 2001, with Medicaid, the largest, amounting to $148 billion, up 11.1 percent. Federal procurement awards in 2002 amounted to $271 billion, a 10.1 percent increase over 2001, with Department of Defense contracts totaling $166 billion, or 61 percent.

Direct payments to individuals for retirement and disability reached $613 billion in 2002, up 2.2 percent over 2001, with Social Security alone totaling $491 billion, a 1.5 percent increase.

Federal government salaries and wages were $199 billion, up 5.8 percent, with the Department of Defense (38 percent) and the Postal Service (26 percent) making up nearly two-thirds of the total.

At the county or county-equivalent level, New York City, N.Y., and Los Angeles County, Calif., both with about $52.9 billion, led the list of recipients. They were followed by Cook County, Ill. ($29.2 billion); San Diego County, Calif. ($23.2 billion); and Maricopa County, Ariz. ($17.3 billion).

Per capita federal spending among states, meanwhile, was highest in Alaska ($11,746), Virginia ($10,220), North Dakota ($10,151), New Mexico ($9,422) and Maryland ($9,076). The rest of the top 10, in order, were: Hawaii ($8,414), South Dakota ($8,297), Montana ($7,668), Alabama ($7,643) and Missouri ($7,465). Factors affecting per capita spending included the state’s population, the number of its federally funded programs and the number of federal employees residing in the state.

Resident population as of July 1, 2002, was used to calculate per capita amounts for the states, counties and county-equivalent areas.

DOD spending

The Department of Defense spent a total of $278 billion domestically in 2002, up 8.8 percent over 2001. This amount included procurement contracts, payroll, military pensions and grants.

Defense Department spending in 2002 was the highest in the following five states: California ($36.2 billion), Virginia ($29.6 billion), Texas ($22.3 billion), Florida ($14.3 billion) and Georgia ($11.0 billion). The top five counties or equivalents in federal defense expenditures were: Los Angeles ($10.3 billion) and San Diego ($10.0 billion) counties in California; Fairfax County, Va. ($6.0 billion); St. Louis City, Mo. ($4.8 billion); and Bexar County, Texas ($4.6 billion).

In addition to providing an overall picture of the federal government’s domestic spending, the reports break out spending by federal agencies for fiscal year 2002 (Oct. 1, 2001 Sept. 30, 2002). No data were shown for the Department of Homeland Security, which was created on Jan. 24 of this year. However, spending by pre-existing agencies and programs, now part of
that department, were included.

The data in these reports are not subject to sampling variability, but are subject to nonsampling errors, which include errors of response and processing.

To view reports CLICK below (Adobe Acrobat reader required):

Consolidated Federal Funds Report for Fiscal Year 2002
http://www.census.gov/govs/www/cffr.html

Federal Aid to States for Fiscal Year 2002
http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/fas02.pdf

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