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California vs Colorado

Federal spending comparison

California’s USAspending.gov obligation stock is $39.5B; Colorado’s is $8.1B. Colorado files only 91,723 awards against California’s 639,340 — a thin tape on an $8.1B stock. Census counts are 5,957,493 in Colorado and 39,431,263 in California. Spending per capita is $97.34 versus $135.64. FY2026 obligations are $579.9M in Colorado and $5.3B in California. Nonscheduled chartered freight air transportation leads Colorado; commercial and institutional building construction leads California. The series is obligations, not outlays.

Key figures

  • California $39.5B vs Colorado $8.1B in stacked USAspending obligations.
  • Colorado files only 91,723 awards vs California’s 639,340.
  • Per capita: California $135.64 vs Colorado $97.34 on 39,431,263 vs 5,957,493 residents.
  • FY2026 $5.3B vs $579.9M; chartered freight air leads Colorado.
  • Figures are USAspending.gov obligations, not Treasury outlays.

91,723 awards on $8.1B

Colorado’s award count is the distinctive fact. 91,723 actions on $8.1B is a concentrated file relative to California’s 639,340 actions on $39.5B. Colorado’s row count is about 14 percent of California’s; its dollar stock is about 20 percent. The Mountain West tape is dollar-heavy relative to rows. The packet does not publish average award size. The contrast is enough to flag concentration.

Colorado’s lead NAICS is nonscheduled chartered freight air transportation. A charter-freight peak is consistent with large airlift bookings rather than a high-frequency services tape. California’s commercial-construction peak sits inside a much larger 639,340-row mix.

Colorado’s $8.1B charter-freight stock on 5,957,493 residents is a concentrated 91,723-row airlift file; California’s $39.5B construction-led stock on 39,431,263 residents remains larger in dollars and warmer at $135.64 versus $97.34. FY2026 of $579.9M versus $5.3B does not reorder that ranking.

Charter freight versus federal buildings

Nonscheduled chartered freight air transportation and commercial and institutional building construction are different NAICS families. Colorado’s $8.1B charter-freight peak is a logistics-airlift mix. California’s $39.5B construction peak is a facilities mix. The packet names those peaks; it does not give shares.

Use the California and Colorado state hubs for agencies and recipients. Cite USAspending.gov. Do not treat the charter-freight peak as an outlay category. The 91,723 and 639,340 rows include many other codes.

Full analysis: California vs Colorado on USAspending: $39.5B against $8.1B →

Questions

Does California or Colorado have more federal spending?
California leads stacked USAspending.gov obligations $39.5B to Colorado’s $8.1B. California also leads spending per capita, $135.64 versus $97.34, on 39,431,263 residents against Colorado’s 5,957,493. Award counts are 639,340 in California and 91,723 in Colorado. FY2026 obligations are $5.3B in California and $579.9M in Colorado.
Why does Colorado have so few awards on $8.1B?
The packet reports 91,723 awards in Colorado on $8.1B versus 639,340 in California on $39.5B. Colorado’s lead industry is nonscheduled chartered freight air transportation, a mix that can concentrate dollars in fewer airlift actions. Spending per capita is $97.34 versus $135.64. These figures are USAspending.gov obligations, not outlays.
What industries lead in California and Colorado?
California’s top industry is commercial and institutional building construction. Colorado’s is nonscheduled chartered freight air transportation. Those labels are the largest NAICS slices on $39.5B and $8.1B. Award counts are 639,340 in California and 91,723 in Colorado. Those peaks are mix labels on the stacked stocks, not inventories of every award.
Are California vs Colorado figures Treasury outlays?
No. The $39.5B and $8.1B totals, and FY2026 amounts of $5.3B and $579.9M, are USAspending.gov obligations. Outlays are cash payments and can lag. Spending per capita ($135.64 vs $97.34) uses Census population where present. Award counts in the packet are all-years totals, not a single fiscal year’s actions.

State comparison from SpendingVault aggregates of USAspending obligations. Per-capita uses Census population where present.

Side-by-side federal spending and demographic comparison between California and Colorado.
CaliforniaMetricColorado
$222.27BTotal Spending$27.81B
$6KPer Capita$5K
N/A% of GDPN/A
39.4MPopulation6.0M
N/AMedian IncomeN/A
N/APoverty RateN/A
N/ABachelor Degree %N/A
N/AMedian AgeN/A
N/AUnemploymentN/A
N/AGDP (Millions)N/A

Top Agencies — California

  • Department of Health and Human Services$961.70B
  • Social Security Administration$397.49B
  • Department of Defense$301.91B
  • Department of Energy$116.54B
  • Department of Agriculture$85.61B

Top Agencies — Colorado

  • Department of Defense$63.98B
  • Social Security Administration$61.96B
  • Department of Health and Human Services$57.66B
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration$22.31B
  • Department of Veterans Affairs$15.38B

Top Industries — California

  • RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE PHYSICAL, ENGINEERING, AND LIFE SCIENCES$84.92B
  • AIRCRAFT MANUFACTURING$48.92B
  • RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE PHYSICAL, ENGINEERING, AND LIFE SCIENCES (EXCEPT NANOTECHNOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY)$45.14B
  • DIRECT HEALTH AND MEDICAL INSURANCE CARRIERS$42.95B
  • COLLEGES, UNIVERSITIES, AND PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS$37.36B

Top Industries — Colorado

  • RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE PHYSICAL, ENGINEERING, AND LIFE SCIENCES$15.76B
  • RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN BIOTECHNOLOGY$10.31B
  • NONSCHEDULED CHARTERED FREIGHT AIR TRANSPORTATION$10.08B
  • RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE PHYSICAL, ENGINEERING, AND LIFE SCIENCES (EXCEPT NANOTECHNOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY)$9.18B
  • RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE PHYSICAL, ENGINEERING, AND LIFE SCIENCES (EXCEPT BIOTECHNOLOGY)$9.12B