Louisiana vs Washington on USAspending: $4.71B vs $7.34B

Washington wins the stock; Louisiana wins the ratio and the latest year

Washington’s $7.34B is about 1.56 times Louisiana’s $4.71B. Population is about 1.73 times: 7,958,180 versus 4,597,740. People outrun dollars, which is why Washington’s per-capita figure falls to $73.46 while Louisiana’s rises to $268.17. A Gulf Coast file with fewer stacked dollars still maps more obligation per resident.

Award counts exaggerate Washington’s scale even more. The state has 236,821 awards against Louisiana’s 72,577, about 3.3 times as many rows on only 1.56 times the dollars. Washington’s file is busy. Louisiana’s 72,577 actions on $4.71B are fewer, heavier on average if one were tempted to divide dollars by rows — a temptation the packet does not support as a published metric.

Put the four stacked rankings in one place: dollars, awards, and population to Washington; per capita to Louisiana. FY2026 then adds a fifth cut that also goes to Louisiana.

Ship building on the Gulf; commercial construction in Washington

Louisiana’s top industry is ship building and repairing. Washington’s top industry is commercial and institutional building construction. Those are different lead NAICS codes on $4.71B and $7.34B. A shipyard peak is not a claim that every Louisiana award is a hull; a construction peak is not a claim that every Washington award is a federal building.

Ship work and building construction can both be lumpy. The 72,577 Louisiana awards and 236,821 Washington awards include many actions outside those labels. Use the Louisiana and Washington state hubs for agencies and recipients rather than treating the lead industry as the entire mix.

FY2026: Louisiana’s $1.23B outruns Washington’s $584.6M

Fiscal year 2026 obligations are $1.23B in Louisiana and $584.6M in Washington. That recency cut is the opposite of the stacked $4.71B versus $7.34B ranking. Louisiana’s latest-year booking is more than double Washington’s even though Washington still holds the larger multi-year stock. Treat the year as incomplete in the usual USAspending sense: it is a recency slice, not a closed-out Treasury total.

Do not annualize $1.23B or $584.6M into a full-year forecast. Do not divide them by 72,577 or 236,821 all-years awards. Per capita of $268.17 and $73.46 already uses 4,597,740 and 7,958,180 residents against the stacked stocks.

Population does not buy Washington the intensity lead

Washington’s 7,958,180 residents are the larger Census count, and $7.34B is the larger obligation stock. The per-person math still favors Louisiana because $4.71B on 4,597,740 people is a denser ratio than $7.34B on 7,958,180. $268.17 versus $73.46 is federal-award intensity, not a description of wages or ports.

Keep both figures labeled as USAspending.gov obligations divided by Census counts. Award counts of 72,577 and 236,821 describe the action file, not the population file.

How to read Louisiana versus Washington

Read Washington first on stock ($7.34B, 236,821 awards, 7,958,180 people). Read Louisiana first on intensity ($268.17 vs $73.46) and on FY2026 ($1.23B vs $584.6M). Then note the industry split: ship building and repairing versus commercial and institutional building construction. None of those cuts is an outlay.

The comparison hub holds the tables. The Louisiana and Washington hubs hold agencies and recipients. Monthly Treasury Statement payments are a different series.

Obligations, not shipyard folklore or Cascade payrolls

Louisiana’s $4.71B and Washington’s $7.34B are USAspending.gov obligations. Ship building and repairing on the Gulf side and commercial and institutional building construction on the Pacific side are the tallest NAICS bars, not biographies of every award. FY2026’s $1.23B versus $584.6M is recency in the same series. Outlays live elsewhere.

Spending per capita of $268.17 and $73.46 sits beside Census counts of 4,597,740 and 7,958,180. Award counts of 72,577 and 236,821 describe how busy the files are. A busy Washington file can still trail on intensity. A smaller Louisiana stock can still lead FY2026. Use the Louisiana and Washington hubs for agencies and recipients rather than treating this overlay as a full recipient census.

Questions

Does Louisiana or Washington have more federal spending?

Washington leads stacked USAspending.gov obligations $7.34B to Louisiana’s $4.71B. Louisiana leads spending per capita, $268.17 versus $73.46, on 4,597,740 residents against Washington’s 7,958,180. Washington has more awards (236,821 vs 72,577). FY2026 obligations are $1.23B in Louisiana and $584.6M in Washington.

Why does Louisiana show more obligations per person than Washington?

The packet reports $268.17 per capita in Louisiana on 4,597,740 residents and $73.46 in Washington on 7,958,180. Washington has more people and far more awards (236,821 vs 72,577). Stacked obligations are $4.71B versus $7.34B. These figures are USAspending.gov obligations, not outlays.

What industries lead federal awards in Louisiana and Washington?

Louisiana’s top industry is ship building and repairing. Washington’s is commercial and institutional building construction. The comparison is scale and intensity on $4.71B versus $7.34B, plus a different lead NAICS. Award counts are 72,577 in Louisiana and 236,821 in Washington.

Are Louisiana vs Washington figures Treasury outlays?

No. The $4.71B and $7.34B totals, and FY2026 amounts of $1.23B and $584.6M, are USAspending.gov obligations. Outlays are cash payments and can lag. Spending per capita ($268.17 vs $73.46) uses Census population against those obligations.