Illinois vs District of Columbia

The District’s $19.9B outruns Illinois’s $15.9B

These figures are USAspending.gov obligations, not Treasury outlays. The District’s $19.9B exceeds Illinois’s $15.9B even though Illinois has 12,710,158 residents and the District has 702,250. Place of performance in the award file is not a population contest. Headquarters contracting booked to the capital can stack dollars that a large Midwestern state does not match in this aggregate.

Award counts run the other way, and the gap is extreme. Illinois has 1,544,633 awards; the District has 95,844. Illinois’s file is busier in rows and lighter in dollars. The District’s file is heavier in dollars on far fewer actions — a much higher typical booking. The $19.9B versus $15.9B ranking is a dollar ranking, not a row ranking.

Capital intensity: $3,166.95 versus $143.78

Illinois’s 12,710,158 residents dwarf the District’s 702,250. After dividing the obligation stocks by those Census counts, the District shows $3,166.95 per capita and Illinois shows $143.78. Intensity is not close. A capital with 702,250 residents and $19.9B in obligations will always look extreme on a per-person basis.

A $143.78 per-person reading in Illinois on 12,710,158 residents is still a large federal footprint attached to $15.9B. The District’s $3,166.95 is an intensity fact about place of performance, not a claim that every resident received that amount. This table scores USAspending awards, not GDP and not a household transfer.

Questions

Which has more federal spending, Illinois or the District of Columbia?

The District of Columbia leads in USAspending.gov obligations: $19.9B versus Illinois’s $15.9B. Illinois has far more awards (1,544,633 vs 95,844) and far more people (12,710,158 vs 702,250). Spending per capita is $143.78 in Illinois and $3,166.95 in the District. FY2026 obligations are $1.8B and $2.2B. These are obligations, not Treasury outlays.

Why does D.C. show more federal obligations than Illinois despite far fewer people?

The District’s $19.9B on 702,250 residents produces $3,166.95 per capita. Illinois’s $15.9B on 12,710,158 residents produces $143.78. Illinois actually logs more awards (1,544,633 vs 95,844), so the District’s lead is dollars per action and capital place-of-performance intensity, not more rows. Top industries differ: management consulting (DC) vs all other miscellaneous manufacturing (IL).

What industries lead Illinois and D.C. federal awards?

Illinois’s top industry is all other miscellaneous manufacturing. The District’s is administrative management and general management consulting services. Those slices sit on $15.9B and $19.9B in obligations. They mark the largest grouping in each file, not every award. Award counts are 1,544,633 in Illinois and 95,844 in the District.

Are Illinois vs D.C. figures Treasury outlays?

No. SpendingVault uses USAspending.gov obligations. Outlays are cash payments and can lag. The $15.9B and $19.9B stacked totals and FY2026 amounts of $1.8B and $2.2B measure award commitments by place of performance, not Monthly Treasury Statement payments. Place of performance can differ from where the paying agency sits.