Agency budgets × USAspending

Largest agencies by budget authority

Federal agencies ranked by budget authority — the legal amount each is authorized to commit to spending. This shows agency size itself, not procurement.

An organization of public government data, not an official U.S. government site. Aggregates cover collected data, and rankings are based on name-level aggregation.

What the data shows

By budget authority, Health & Human Services (Medicare, Medicaid), the Treasury (including debt interest), and the Social Security Administration (pensions) lead — benefit-driven agencies whose lineup differs sharply from the contracts ranking (where Defense dominates). Government spending has two natures: buying (procurement) and giving (benefits/transfers). Obligated amounts (what has actually been committed) are shown alongside.

Top 50 of 94

#	Agency	Amount
1	Department of the Treasury ≈$1.7T obligated	≈$4.51T
2	Department of Health and Human Services ≈$2.22T obligated	≈$3.44T
3	Department of Defense ≈$1.29T obligated	≈$2.58T
4	Social Security Administration ≈$1.36T obligated	≈$1.42T
5	Department of Homeland Security ≈$343.43B obligated	≈$641.67B
6	Department of Veterans Affairs ≈$333.93B obligated	≈$525.43B
7	Department of Agriculture ≈$184.25B obligated	≈$477.29B
8	Office of Personnel Management ≈$164.66B obligated	≈$386.33B
9	Department of Housing and Urban Development ≈$71.31B obligated	≈$338.77B
10	Department of Transportation ≈$99.76B obligated	≈$302.6B
11	Department of Education ≈$86.92B obligated	≈$168.99B
12	Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ≈$4.21B obligated	≈$146.12B
13	Department of Energy ≈$57.96B obligated	≈$138.66B
14	Department of State ≈$25.75B obligated	≈$94.92B
15	Department of the Interior ≈$27.39B obligated	≈$92.2B
16	Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation ≈$9.15B obligated	≈$91.08B
17	Department of Justice ≈$41.82B obligated	≈$87.47B
18	Department of Labor ≈$51.69B obligated	≈$86.94B
19	Corps of Engineers - Civil Works ≈$28.58B obligated	≈$75.99B
20	Environmental Protection Agency ≈$12.69B obligated	≈$55.79B
21	General Services Administration ≈$30.77B obligated	≈$52.6B
22	Department of Commerce ≈$14.13B obligated	≈$51.57B
23	National Aeronautics and Space Administration ≈$17.95B obligated	≈$43.99B
24	Small Business Administration ≈$14.73B obligated	≈$20.32B
25	Railroad Retirement Board ≈$13.15B obligated	≈$18.16B
26	Agency for International Development ≈$6.65B obligated	≈$17.05B
27	National Science Foundation ≈$2.8B obligated	≈$10.17B
28	U.S. International Development Finance Corporation ≈$1.15B obligated	≈$9.97B
29	Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation ≈$230M obligated	≈$9B
30	Securities and Exchange Commission ≈$1.48B obligated	≈$3.26B
31	Millennium Challenge Corporation ≈$178.7M obligated	≈$3.01B
32	Corporation for National and Community Service ≈$988.4M obligated	≈$2.74B
33	Executive Office of the President ≈$523.5M obligated	≈$1.54B
34	Commodity Futures Trading Commission ≈$283.9M obligated	≈$1.47B
35	Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund ≈$720.2M obligated	≈$1.29B
36	Nuclear Regulatory Commission ≈$669.1M obligated	≈$1.11B
37	Government Accountability Office ≈$662.5M obligated	≈$985.4M
38	National Archives and Records Administration ≈$502.3M obligated	≈$874M
39	Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ≈$339.4M obligated	≈$857.7M
40	Export-Import Bank of the United States ≈$361M obligated	≈$662.4M
41	Presidio Trust ≈$266.9M obligated	≈$549.9M
42	Peace Corps ≈$336.4M obligated	≈$489.3M
43	Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ≈$315.7M obligated	≈$469.1M
44	Federal Trade Commission ≈$286M obligated	≈$456.9M
45	National Endowment for the Humanities ≈$167.9M obligated	≈$444.7M
46	Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency ≈$184.6M obligated	≈$385.5M
47	Institute of Museum and Library Services ≈$192.4M obligated	≈$309.3M
48	National Labor Relations Board ≈$193.1M obligated	≈$305.1M
49	National Endowment for the Arts ≈$126M obligated	≈$285.4M
50	Armed Forces Retirement Home ≈$93.4M obligated	≈$262.9M

Aggregates cover each source's collected data. Names use the original data as-is.

FAQ

What does this ranking show?

Federal agencies ordered by budget authority — the legal amount an agency is authorized to commit to spending. It is the best single measure of an agency's size.

How does it differ from the contracts ranking?

This is the agency's total budget; the contracts ranking is what it spent on procurement. HHS and the Social Security Administration have enormous budgets, but most goes to benefits (Medicare, pensions), so their procurement is relatively small.

What is "obligated"?

The portion of budget authority that has actually been committed (contracts, benefit decisions, etc.) — a gauge of how much of the budget has been used.

What is the source?

Agency budget authority from U.S. spending data (USAspending). Curated agencies link to their profile.

← Back to rankings