Tennessee vs Texas on USAspending: $3.6B against $72.7B

A $3.6B stock on 7.2 million people

Tennessee’s 7,227,750 Census count is larger than several states that book more federal obligations. The $3.6B stock therefore produces a cool $97.5 per capita, against Texas’s $686.1 on 31,290,831 residents. Texas’s $72.7B is not merely a bigger-state file. It is a higher-intensity file as well.

Award volume underscores the difference in booking size. Tennessee records 63,616 awards; Texas records 530,634. Tennessee’s row count is about one-eighth of Texas’s, while its dollar stock is about one-twentieth. The Tennessee tape is thinner in both dollars and actions, and the dollar gap is the larger of the two.

Express delivery versus pharmaceutical manufacturing

Tennessee’s top industry is couriers and express delivery services. Texas’s top industry is pharmaceutical preparation manufacturing. A logistics peak on $3.6B is a different federal buying pattern than a drug-manufacturing peak on $72.7B. The packet names those peaks; it does not give their dollar shares.

Courier awards can be numerous and operational. Pharmaceutical-preparation awards can be large manufacturing commitments. Readers should not assume every Tennessee award is a parcel contract or every Texas award is a pill plant. The 63,616 and 530,634 rows include many other NAICS codes. Open the Tennessee and Texas state hubs for agencies and recipients.

FY2026: Tennessee’s $704.7M against Texas’s $21.5B

The latest fiscal year in this aggregate is FY2026. Tennessee shows $704.7M; Texas shows $21.5B. Tennessee’s latest-year amount is a sizable slice of its $3.6B stock. Texas’s $21.5B is a sizable slice of $72.7B as well. Recency still ranks Texas first by a wide margin.

Do not treat $704.7M or $21.5B as outlays. Cite USAspending.gov for obligations. Do not divide those FY2026 amounts by the all-years award counts of 63,616 and 530,634. Per capita of $97.5 and $686.1 already sits beside Census counts of 7,227,750 and 31,290,831.

Population does not close the intensity gap

Tennessee’s 7,227,750 residents are about 23 percent of Texas’s 31,290,831. Tennessee’s $3.6B is about 5 percent of Texas’s $72.7B. That mismatch is the $97.5 versus $686.1 reading. If obligations scaled with population, Tennessee’s stock would be much closer to Texas. It is not.

The 63,616 Tennessee awards versus 530,634 Texas awards tell a related story: Texas files more actions and books far more dollars per resident. Keep those per-capita figures labeled as Census-based packet figures on USAspending.gov obligations.

Courier volume is not Texas-scale dollars

Tennessee’s courier-and-express-delivery peak on $3.6B is a logistics signature, not a claim that the state books parcel contracts at Texas scale. Texas’s $72.7B pharmaceutical-preparation peak is a manufacturing signature on a different stack. The 63,616 Tennessee awards versus 530,634 Texas awards show that Tennessee’s tape is thinner in rows as well as dollars. A reader who knows Kentucky’s courier peak from another comparison should not assume Tennessee’s file is the same: Tennessee has 7,227,750 residents, a $97.5 per-capita reading, and FY2026 of $704.7M, all distinct from other courier-led states.

USAspending.gov obligations record legal commitments by place of performance. They do not record when Treasury paid cash, and they do not record which firm’s headquarters received the money. Tennessee’s $3.6B and Texas’s $72.7B are the stacked stocks in this aggregate. The $704.7M and $21.5B FY2026 cuts are the same series, sliced to the latest year. Spending per capita of $97.5 and $686.1 already uses Census counts of 7,227,750 and 31,290,831. Outlays would require a different table.

The comparison hub is the table view of Tennessee versus Texas. The state hubs are the agency and recipient view. Keep the courier label and the pharmaceutical-preparation label as mix tags. They do not override the dollar ranking of $3.6B versus $72.7B or the intensity ranking of $97.5 versus $686.1.

What this pair is for

This comparison is for readers who want Tennessee’s $3.6B and Texas’s $72.7B in one place, with the courier versus pharmaceutical-preparation labels attached. It is not a ranking of agencies, recipients, or Treasury cash. FY2026 of $704.7M versus $21.5B is the recency cut of the same obligation series.

Use the comparison hub for the tables. Use the Tennessee and Texas hubs for statewide detail. Award counts of 63,616 and 530,634 are all-years totals. Outlays are a different USAspending.gov series and are not in this packet.

Questions

Does Tennessee or Texas have more federal spending?

Texas leads stacked USAspending.gov obligations $72.7B to Tennessee’s $3.6B. Texas also leads spending per capita, $686.1 versus $97.5, on 31,290,831 residents against Tennessee’s 7,227,750. Award counts are 530,634 in Texas and 63,616 in Tennessee. FY2026 obligations are $21.5B in Texas and $704.7M in Tennessee.

Why is Tennessee’s per-capita figure so much lower?

The packet reports $97.5 per capita in Tennessee on 7,227,750 residents and $686.1 in Texas on 31,290,831. Stacked stocks are $3.6B versus $72.7B, a larger multiple than the population gap. Award counts are 63,616 versus 530,634. These figures are USAspending.gov obligations, not outlays.

What industries lead in Tennessee and Texas?

Tennessee’s top industry is couriers and express delivery services. Texas’s is pharmaceutical preparation manufacturing. Those labels are the largest NAICS slices on $3.6B and $72.7B. Award counts are 63,616 in Tennessee and 530,634 in Texas. Those peaks are mix labels on the stacked stocks, not inventories of every award.

Are Tennessee vs Texas figures Treasury outlays?

No. The $3.6B and $72.7B totals, and FY2026 amounts of $704.7M and $21.5B, are USAspending.gov obligations. Outlays are cash payments and can lag. Spending per capita ($97.5 vs $686.1) uses Census population where present. Award counts in the packet are all-years totals, not a single fiscal year’s actions.