Iowa vs Virginia on USAspending: $3.8B next to $110.8B

Dollar stock: Iowa’s $3.8B against Virginia’s $110.8B

SpendingVault compares USAspending.gov obligations, the amounts agencies commit on awards, not Treasury outlays. Iowa’s $3.8B is a real file. It is also about 3 percent of Virginia’s $110.8B. Anyone scanning a national map will see Virginia as a high-obligation state and Iowa as a modest one in this pairing.

Award counts widen that impression. Iowa shows 48,706 awards; Virginia shows 1,116,647. Iowa’s actions are not rare, but they do not approach the volume of the Virginia contractor base. The comparison is a scale mismatch more than a photo finish.

Population cannot explain a $127 vs $1,344 per-capita gap

Virginia has more people — 8,811,195 versus 3,241,488 — roughly 2.7 times Iowa’s Census count. Obligations are about 29 times Iowa’s $3.8B. That leftover gap shows up as $1,344.24 per capita in Virginia and $127.17 in Iowa.

If federal awards tracked population alone, Iowa would not sit in the low hundreds of dollars per resident while Virginia sits above a thousand. The per-capita column is the short proof that Iowa’s obligation intensity, in this dataset, is far below Virginia’s.

Wireless equipment manufacturing vs other computer related services

Iowa’s top industry is radio and television broadcasting and wireless communications equipment manufacturing. Virginia’s is other computer related services. Iowa’s lead slice is a manufacturing NAICS; Virginia’s is a services NAICS. That is the cleanest industry contrast in this pair.

A wireless-equipment plant winning federal work produces a different award pattern than Northern Virginia IT support shops billing many agencies. The 48,706 Iowa awards versus 1,116,647 Virginia awards is consistent with a services-heavy, high-volume file on the Virginia side.

FY2026 obligations: $412.2M vs $11.8B

The latest fiscal year in the comparison is FY2026. Iowa’s FY2026 obligations are $412.2M; Virginia’s are $11.8B. Iowa’s latest year is a noticeable share of the $3.8B stack; Virginia’s latest year is one layer of $110.8B. Use FY2026 to talk about recent bookings and the stacked total to talk about the full file USAspending.gov supports in this aggregate.

Iowa’s $412.2M in FY2026 sits inside a $3.8B stack; Virginia’s $11.8B sits inside $110.8B. Wireless-equipment manufacturing awards can cluster when a production lot is obligated and then go quiet. That clustering is why the latest-year cut and the stacked total answer different questions for Iowa’s 48,706 awards. Per capita of $127.17 on 3,241,488 residents versus $1,344.24 on 8,811,195 residents is still the intensity comparison after FY2026 is set aside. Cite USAspending.gov obligations, not Treasury outlays, in both time cuts.

Obligations, outlays, and what to open next

Treasury outlays can trail obligations. Multi-year contracts obligated in an earlier year can still be paying out in FY2026. This page does not convert $3.8B or $110.8B into state budget revenue. For recipient and agency tables, use the Iowa and Virginia state hubs. For other state pairs, start from the comparison index. Iowa’s $3.8B is a manufacturing-tinged obligations file. Virginia’s $110.8B is a services-volume file. Mixing those into a single Midwest-versus-East narrative adds claims the table does not support. Use the Iowa and Virginia hubs for the underlying agency lists.

Iowa’s hardware-led mix does not make $3.8B a defense-only file, and Virginia’s computer-services mix does not make $110.8B an IT-only file. Largest slice and whole file are different ideas. Award counts of 48,706 versus 1,116,647 describe crowding, not quality. Place of performance can be a factory floor in Iowa or a contractor office in Virginia. Open the Iowa and Virginia state pages for agencies and recipients rather than inferring them from the industry labels.

What the Iowa–Virginia columns are for

Use $3.8B versus $110.8B when the question is scale. Use $127.17 versus $1,344.24 when the question is intensity on 3,241,488 and 8,811,195 residents. Use 48,706 versus 1,116,647 when the question is how crowded the award file is. Those three answers are related and not interchangeable.

FY2026 ($412.2M vs $11.8B) is the recency slice. Radio and television broadcasting and wireless communications equipment manufacturing versus other computer related services is the mix slice. USAspending.gov records obligations. Treasury outlays, if needed, live in a different publication and a different definition of spent.

Questions

How much has the federal government obligated in Iowa vs Virginia?

Iowa shows $3.8B in USAspending.gov obligations and Virginia shows $110.8B. Award counts are 48,706 and 1,116,647. Spending per capita is $127.17 versus $1,344.24 using Census populations of 3,241,488 and 8,811,195. FY2026 obligations are $412.2M and $11.8B. These are obligations, not Treasury outlays.

What industry leads federal awards in Iowa compared with Virginia?

Iowa’s top industry is radio and television broadcasting and wireless communications equipment manufacturing. Virginia’s top industry is other computer related services. Those are the largest industry slices on top of $3.8B and $110.8B in obligations. They do not describe every award in either state.

Why is Iowa’s per-capita federal spending so much lower?

Iowa’s $127.17 per capita uses $3.8B in obligations and 3,241,488 residents. Virginia’s $1,344.24 uses $110.8B and 8,811,195 residents. Population differs by a factor of about 2.7; obligations differ by much more. The per-capita gap is the remainder after headcount is taken out.

Is the Iowa vs Virginia comparison based on outlays?

No. It uses USAspending.gov obligations. Outlays are cash payments tracked separately by Treasury. An obligation of $3.8B (Iowa) or $110.8B (Virginia) can pay out over more than one fiscal year. FY2026 figures of $412.2M and $11.8B are also obligations for that year, not checks issued.