State government spending in FY2024: a reproducible 50-state comparison
By ImpactLine · Sources and calculations reviewed October 8, 2026
The 50 U.S. state governments reported $3.162T in Census FY2024 general expenditures. That is a specific accounting measure, not a claim about every public dollar spent within their borders. This comparison supplies the records and calculations needed to check the total.
Start with a measure that reconciles
The calculation selects Census aggregate SF0133 for each state, converts the published thousands of dollars to dollars, and sums each state once. The exact FY2024 sum is $3,162,071,023,000. The corresponding FY2023 sum is $3,021,572,646,000. Subtracting and dividing by the FY2023 sum gives the nominal change above. Both sums reconcile exactly to the national general-expenditure rows in the same official release.
General expenditures include direct general spending and payments to other governments. Utilities, liquor stores and insurance-trust expenditures are outside this measure. Insurance-trust expenditure is separately reported even from Census total expenditures, SF0132. A chart that adds an insurance amount to one state but leaves it out for another has changed the denominator.
The largest ledgers, in absolute dollars
These ten states have the largest general-expenditure totals in this dataset. Their rank describes scale. It does not measure fiscal responsibility, service quality, corruption, or spending per resident. Population and which level of government runs a service both affect the comparison.
| State | General expenditures | Share of 50-state total |
|---|---|---|
| California | $518,966,193,000 | 16.41% |
| New York | $252,507,266,000 | 7.99% |
| Texas | $211,016,597,000 | 6.67% |
| Florida | $129,525,953,000 | 4.10% |
| Pennsylvania | $120,033,195,000 | 3.80% |
| Illinois | $119,423,161,000 | 3.78% |
| Ohio | $101,544,814,000 | 3.21% |
| Michigan | $96,682,139,000 | 3.06% |
| New Jersey | $92,680,571,000 | 2.93% |
| North Carolina | $89,379,708,000 | 2.83% |
Open all 50 source-linked state ledgers to inspect the smaller states and their functions. The searchable directory sorts by name or dollar total without calling a state “best” or “worst.”
What the function totals reveal
Summing the same non-overlapping function groups across states gives another way to inspect the headline. The largest six groups are below. Their underlying items retain Census classification codes in the downloadable records; the complete functional ledger reconciles to the full headline before rounding.
| Function group | 50-state dollars | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Public welfare | $1,127,061,704,000 | 35.64% |
| Education | $1,007,538,201,000 | 31.86% |
| Highways | $192,770,463,000 | 6.10% |
| Hospitals | $156,208,738,000 | 4.94% |
| Other and unallocable | $143,113,571,000 | 4.53% |
| Health | $100,503,923,000 | 3.18% |
A function name is an accounting category, not an agency or recipient. Education can contain transfers to school districts as well as direct spending. Public welfare is not a synonym for one specific program. To answer where a payment ended up, use the state record as a starting point and look for agency, contract, grant or payment identifiers.
Three limits to put beside any chart
Reference years are not identical date ranges. Census FY2024 uses state financial reporting periods. The parent fiscal year ends June 30 for most states, but Alabama and Michigan end September 30, New York ends March 31, and Texas ends August 31. Dependent entities can have different reporting periods. Each tracker links its period note to the Census methodology.
State spending is not state plus local spending. These are state-government records. Adding school district or city spending can count a state transfer twice. The transfer guide gives a small worked example and a reconciliation worksheet.
Actual financial activity is not an appropriation. Census reporting retains source accounting bases described in its classification manual. Do not turn the whole series into a claim about cash payments only, or compare it with an enacted budget from a different fiscal year and call the difference an underspend. See the budget-versus-actual guide.
Reproduce or challenge the result
- Download the official Census bulk archive linked below and select the same reference years and state-government geography.
- Select SF0133 once for each of the 50 states. Exclude the U.S. row, DC and territories from the state sum.
- Multiply source values by 1,000 to normalize their units to dollars.
- Sum the 50 state amounts and compare with the national published aggregate from the same release.
- Keep the raw codes and source-file hashes with the calculation so a later revision can be identified.
Download the 50-state comparison CSV · Download formulas and exact results · Inspect file hashes and scope notes.
If a future download produces a different value, check the release and accounting basis before deciding the older result is wrong. A revised source table, a unit error and a changed measure are different explanations and need different corrections.
Primary sources
Automated data processing and AI-assisted explanatory writing are disclosed. Follow the primary sources to verify each measure. A spending total or missing record does not establish fraud.