Colorado vs Ohio on USAspending: $8.1B vs $8.1B

Two $8.1B stocks on very different Census counts

These figures are USAspending.gov obligations, not Treasury outlays. Ohio’s $8.1B edges Colorado’s $8.1B by a thin margin. The comparison scores place of performance in the award file. A 11,883,304-person state and a 5,957,493-person state can post the same stacked dollars. That is the first fact to hold in this pair.

Award counts favor Ohio. Ohio has 168,038 awards; Colorado has 91,723. Ohio’s file is slightly busier in rows on a dollar stock that is essentially matched. Colorado’s $8.1B on 91,723 actions implies a heavier typical booking than Ohio’s $8.1B on 168,038 records.

Colorado’s $97.34 versus Ohio’s $61.66

Ohio’s 11,883,304 residents nearly double Colorado’s 5,957,493. After dividing the obligation stocks by those Census counts, Colorado shows $97.34 per capita and Ohio shows $61.66. Intensity favors Colorado even though Ohio holds the slightly larger stacked total. Population is not the engine of this ranking.

A $97.34 per-person reading in Colorado on 5,957,493 residents is an intensity fact attached to $8.1B. Ohio’s $61.66 on 11,883,304 residents is attached to $8.1B. This table scores USAspending place of performance, not GDP. A dollar tie can hide a wide intensity gap.

Chartered freight air in Colorado, aircraft engines in Ohio

Colorado’s top industry is nonscheduled chartered freight air transportation. Ohio’s is aircraft engine and engine parts manufacturing. Those labels mark the largest NAICS slice in each state’s file, not a full industrial census. Charter-freight awards and engine-parts awards are different lead products sitting on two $8.1B stocks.

A chartered-freight lead can concentrate large transportation awards inside Colorado’s 91,723-award file. An aircraft-engine lead can concentrate propulsion manufacturing inside Ohio’s 168,038-award file. Mix and scale both differ. Neither industry name explains every dollar.

FY2026: $579.9M in Colorado vs $732.7M in Ohio

FY2026 obligations are $579.9M in Colorado and $732.7M in Ohio. Ohio’s latest year remains ahead, matching the direction of the thin stacked ranking. Recency questions belong in FY2026. The stacked totals remain the full USAspending.gov aggregate this comparison uses. Both years are obligations, not outlays.

Do not divide those FY figures by Colorado’s 91,723 or Ohio’s 168,038 all-years awards. Per capita of $97.34 on 5,957,493 residents versus $61.66 on 11,883,304 residents is the intensity comparison that already reverses the population ranking. Both cuts are USAspending.gov obligations.

A dollar tie with inverted intensity

Ohio leads stacked dollars by a thin margin ($8.1B vs $8.1B), award count (168,038 vs 91,723), population (11,883,304 vs 5,957,493), and FY2026 ($732.7M vs $579.9M). Colorado leads per capita ($97.34 vs $61.66). Those splits are why Colorado versus Ohio cannot be reduced to two identical $8.1B files.

Nonscheduled chartered freight air transportation versus aircraft engine and engine parts manufacturing is mix inside files that contain many other industries. Use the Colorado and Ohio hubs for agencies and recipients. Keep both $8.1B figures labeled as obligations.

How to use the Colorado and Ohio hubs

Two $8.1B stocks on 5,957,493 versus 11,883,304 residents is a dollar tie with inverted intensity: $97.34 versus $61.66. Award counts of 91,723 versus 168,038 and FY2026 of $579.9M versus $732.7M favor Ohio. Open the Colorado hub and the Ohio hub for agencies and recipients. Nonscheduled chartered freight air transportation versus aircraft engine and engine parts manufacturing is mix, not a census of either stock.

These are USAspending.gov obligations, not Treasury outlays. Do not divide latest-year dollars by all-years award counts. Place of performance can differ from the paying agency’s location. Use the hubs when the next question is recipients. Keep both $8.1B figures labeled as obligations so a dollar tie is not mistaken for similar Census intensity. Colorado’s thinner population still posts the same stacked dollars.

Colorado versus Ohio is a dollar tie of $8.1B versus $8.1B on 5,957,493 versus 11,883,304 residents. Nonscheduled chartered freight air transportation and aircraft engine and engine parts manufacturing sit on 91,723 and 168,038 awards. FY2026 of $579.9M versus $732.7M favors Ohio. Per capita is $97.34 versus $61.66. Obligations are not outlays. The Colorado and Ohio hubs hold agencies and recipients. Matched dollars are not matched intensity. Two $8.1B stocks on 5,957,493 versus 11,883,304 residents are a dollar tie with inverted intensity of $97.34 versus $61.66. Chartered freight air versus aircraft engines sits on 91,723 and 168,038 awards. FY2026’s $579.9M versus $732.7M favors Ohio. Obligations remain the unit.

Questions

Which state has more federal spending, Colorado or Ohio?

Ohio leads by a thin margin in stacked USAspending.gov obligations: $8.1B versus Colorado’s $8.1B. Ohio has more awards (168,038 vs 91,723) and more people (11,883,304 vs 5,957,493). Spending per capita is $97.34 in Colorado and $61.66 in Ohio. FY2026 obligations are $579.9M and $732.7M. These are obligations, not Treasury outlays.

Are Colorado and Ohio tied on federal obligations?

The stacked totals are both $8.1B, with Ohio slightly ahead. The files are not tied. Colorado logs 91,723 awards against Ohio’s 168,038. Per capita is $97.34 versus $61.66 on 5,957,493 residents versus 11,883,304. FY2026 favors Ohio ($732.7M vs $579.9M). A dollar tie can hide inverted intensity.

What industries lead Colorado and Ohio federal awards?

Colorado’s top industry is nonscheduled chartered freight air transportation. Ohio’s is aircraft engine and engine parts manufacturing. Those slices sit on two $8.1B obligation stocks. They mark the largest grouping in each file, not every award in either state. Award counts are 91,723 in Colorado and 168,038 in Ohio.

Are Colorado vs Ohio figures Treasury outlays?

No. SpendingVault uses USAspending.gov obligations. Outlays are cash payments and can lag. The two $8.1B stacked totals and FY2026 amounts of $579.9M and $732.7M measure award commitments by place of performance, not Monthly Treasury Statement payments. Place of performance can differ from where the paying agency sits.