Pennsylvania vs Virginia on USAspending

More awards, fewer dollars

Most Virginia matchups show Virginia ahead on both money and actions. Pennsylvania breaks that pattern. Its 1,468,918 awards exceed Virginia’s 1,116,647, yet $28.1B is about one-quarter of Virginia’s $110.8B. A high action count with a lower dollar stock usually means a book full of smaller awards, grants, or modifications rather than a handful of huge services contracts. The packet does not publish an average award size, so this page does not invent one. The two columns together are the story: Pennsylvania is busy on the action ledger and light on the obligation ledger.

Pennsylvania’s Census population is 13,078,751, versus 8,811,195 in Virginia. More people and more award actions still do not produce more recorded federal obligations. Place-of-performance on USAspending.gov is doing real work in this pair: a lot of high-dollar federal services activity is attributed to Virginia, while Pennsylvania’s large award count does not add up to a comparable dollar stock.

Pennsylvania’s 1,468,918 awards are not a glitch next to $28.1B. Grant-heavy and modification-heavy books produce high action counts. Virginia’s 1,116,647 awards sit under $110.8B, so the average action on the Virginia side of the comparison is carrying more recorded obligation — a statement of the two published columns, not a computed average this page prints as a new statistic.

Medicinal manufacturing versus computer-related services

Pennsylvania’s top industry is medicinal and botanical manufacturing. Virginia’s is other computer related services. That is a goods-versus-services split in the leading NAICS descriptions. Manufacturing awards can be lumpy — a production lot here, a supply contract there — while computer-related services often generate many modifications against IDIQ-style work. Pennsylvania’s higher award count and lower dollars fit a world where many actions are not huge professional-services task orders.

Top industry is the largest slice, not the rest of the mix. Pennsylvania has federal work beyond medicinal and botanical manufacturing; Virginia has work beyond computer services. For this head-to-head those two labels are the industry facts available, and they help explain why the action column and the dollar column disagree.

Medicinal and botanical manufacturing is a goods code. Other computer related services is a services code. That split helps a reader interpret why Pennsylvania can out-count Virginia on actions and still trail $28.1B to $110.8B. It does not prove every Pennsylvania award is a botanical product. Top industry is the largest slice of each mix.

Per-capita: $239.68 against $1,344.24

Pennsylvania’s spending per capita is $239.68. Virginia’s is $1,344.24. Spreading $28.1B across 13,078,751 residents produces a modest per-person figure; spreading $110.8B across 8,811,195 residents produces a high one. Neither number is a transfer to each resident. It is a way to stop a larger state from looking “behind” solely because the raw dollar total is smaller — and in this case, even after that adjustment, Virginia remains far more obligation-dense.

FY 2026 is the latest fiscal year tagged on the pair. Readers should not collapse the $28.1B and $110.8B aggregates into a single-year spending race. Multi-year award books sit underneath both totals.

With 13,078,751 residents, Pennsylvania is the larger state. $239.68 per capita is the scaled result of putting $28.1B over that population. Virginia’s $1,344.24 puts $110.8B over 8,811,195. The per-capita column is doing the job a raw-dollar ranking cannot: it stops the larger state from looking “close” when it is not close on intensity.

What the Pennsylvania–Virginia table is for

Use this pair when the question is how a large Mid-Atlantic manufacturing-and-grant state compares with Virginia’s contractor-heavy obligation stock. Check three cells before drawing a conclusion: dollars ($28.1B vs $110.8B), actions (1,468,918 vs 1,116,647), and per-capita ($239.68 vs $1,344.24). Quoting only one of those three misleads.

USAspending.gov is the source of the award records. SpendingVault rolls them into state comparison rows. If a raw download disagrees, check obligation versus outlay, date range, and place-of-performance filters. Then use the Pennsylvania and Virginia state pages for agencies and recipients this pair view does not list.

USAspending.gov remains the source. If a Pennsylvania export from the API shows a different total than $28.1B, check whether the pull is outlays, whether the years include more than the aggregate behind this pair, and whether recipient location was used instead of place of performance. The same checks apply to Virginia’s $110.8B.

Outlays are a different file

An obligation is a commitment an agency records against an award. An outlay is cash Treasury pays later. Pennsylvania’s $28.1B and Virginia’s $110.8B are obligation stocks. Treating them as money already deposited in state economies overstates cash movement and ignores timing. Cite the source as USAspending.gov and keep the word “obligations” in any reuse of these totals.

Questions

Does Pennsylvania have more federal awards than Virginia?

Yes. Pennsylvania has 1,468,918 awards in this USAspending aggregate; Virginia has 1,116,647. Pennsylvania still trails on dollars, $28.1B versus $110.8B. Award count measures actions, including modifications, not unique companies and not obligation value. Figures come from SpendingVault aggregates of USAspending.gov award records. They are obligations — recorded commitments — not Treasury outlays, and FY 2026 is the latest year in the comparison.

Which state has higher federal obligations, Pennsylvania or Virginia?

Virginia, at $110.8B compared with Pennsylvania’s $28.1B. Pennsylvania has more residents (13,078,751 vs 8,811,195) and more award actions, but a smaller obligation stock. Figures are obligations from USAspending.gov, not Treasury outlays. FY 2026 is the latest year. Figures come from SpendingVault aggregates of USAspending.gov award records. They are obligations — recorded commitments — not Treasury outlays, and FY 2026 is the latest year in the comparison.

What is Pennsylvania’s federal spending per capita vs Virginia?

Pennsylvania’s spending per capita is $239.68. Virginia’s is $1,344.24. Both divide USAspending obligations by Census population. The statistic scales two different state sizes; it is not a payment to each resident of either state. Figures come from SpendingVault aggregates of USAspending.gov award records. They are obligations — recorded commitments — not Treasury outlays, and FY 2026 is the latest year in the comparison.

What top industries show up for Pennsylvania and Virginia?

Pennsylvania’s top industry is medicinal and botanical manufacturing. Virginia’s is other computer related services. Those are the leading NAICS descriptions in SpendingVault’s aggregates, not a full list of federal work in either state. Figures come from SpendingVault aggregates of USAspending.gov award records. They are obligations — recorded commitments — not Treasury outlays, and FY 2026 is the latest year in the comparison.