Texas vs West Virginia on USAspending: $72.7B against $1.7B

Ammunition manufacturing on a $1.7B Appalachian file

West Virginia’s lead NAICS is ammunition (except small arms) manufacturing. That munitions label sits on $1.7B against Texas’s $72.7B pharmaceutical-preparation peak. The pair is a defense-industrial mix versus a drug-manufacturing mix, and a small stacked stock versus a large one. The packet names the peaks; it does not give their shares.

West Virginia files 14,302 awards. Texas files 530,634. The Appalachian tape is thin. An ammunition peak is consistent with concentrated plant work rather than a high-frequency services file. Use the West Virginia and Texas state hubs for agencies and recipients. Cite USAspending.gov.

Forty times the dollars, eighteen times the people

Texas’s 31,290,831 residents are about eighteen times West Virginia’s 1,769,979. Texas’s $72.7B is more than forty times West Virginia’s $1.7B. Dollars outrun population, which is why Texas’s $686.1 per capita sits well above West Virginia’s $113.44. Headcount explains part of the ranking. It does not explain the intensity gap.

Award volume follows scale: 530,634 versus 14,302. West Virginia’s row count is about 3 percent of Texas’s, close to its dollar share and below its population share. The $1.7B file is not award-heavy relative to Texas.

FY2026: $21.5B versus $200.8M

Fiscal year 2026 obligations are $21.5B in Texas and $200.8M in West Virginia. Recency preserves Texas’s lead. West Virginia’s latest-year amount is a modest slice of $1.7B; Texas’s $21.5B is a large slice of $72.7B. Treat FY2026 as a recency cut of obligations, not as Treasury cash.

Do not divide $21.5B or $200.8M by 530,634 or 14,302 all-years awards. Spending per capita of $686.1 and $113.44 already uses Census denominators of 31,290,831 and 1,769,979.

What $113.44 per capita records

West Virginia’s $113.44 on 1,769,979 residents is cooler than Texas’s $686.1 and warmer than several larger states with similar or smaller stocks. The ammunition peak does not by itself set per capita. The $1.7B stock and the Census count do.

Keep those figures labeled as USAspending.gov obligations. Outlays are a different series. Place-of-performance for ammunition manufacturing can sit at a plant. The packet does not reallocate suppliers or headquarters.

Ammunition manufacturing does not close a fortyfold dollar gap

West Virginia’s ammunition-except-small-arms peak on $1.7B is a munitions signature. It is a different defense-industrial mix than New Hampshire’s small-arms peak elsewhere in this slice, and a different mix than Texas’s pharmaceutical-preparation peak on $72.7B. The 14,302 West Virginia awards versus 530,634 Texas awards show a thin Appalachian tape. The $1.7B stock versus $72.7B shows a thin Appalachian dollar file.

Spending per capita of $113.44 on 1,769,979 residents trails Texas’s $686.1 on 31,290,831. FY2026 of $200.8M versus $21.5B restates Texas’s recency lead. Cite USAspending.gov. Outlays are a different series. Place-of-performance for ammunition manufacturing can sit at a plant. The packet does not reallocate suppliers or headquarters.

Use the West Virginia and Texas hubs for agencies and recipients. The comparison hub holds the $1.7B versus $72.7B tables. Keep the ammunition label as a mix tag on 14,302 awards. It does not describe Texas’s 530,634-row file, and it does not convert $1.7B into cash paid.

West Virginia’s 14,302 awards on 1,769,979 residents under $113.44 per capita describe a thin munitions-led file. Ammunition manufacturing on $1.7B is not Texas’s $72.7B pharmaceutical-preparation file. FY2026 of $200.8M versus $21.5B restates the dollar ranking. Texas’s 530,634 awards and 31,290,831 residents stay the scale side. Outlays are a different USAspending.gov series.

How to read Texas versus West Virginia

Read Texas first on stacked dollars ($72.7B vs $1.7B), spending per capita ($686.1 vs $113.44), award count (530,634 vs 14,302), and FY2026 ($21.5B vs $200.8M). Read West Virginia for the ammunition-manufacturing peak against Texas’s pharmaceutical-preparation peak.

The comparison hub holds the tables. The Texas and West Virginia hubs hold agencies and recipients. Outlays are not listed in this packet.

West Virginia’s 1,769,979 residents and Texas’s 31,290,831 residents set the $113.44 versus $686.1 denominators on $1.7B versus $72.7B. Award counts of 14,302 versus 530,634 and FY2026 of $200.8M versus $21.5B complete the comparison. Ammunition manufacturing versus pharmaceutical preparation manufacturing remains the mix contrast. Cite USAspending.gov. Keep every dollar labeled as an obligation.

Questions

Does Texas or West Virginia have more federal spending?

Texas leads stacked USAspending.gov obligations $72.7B to West Virginia’s $1.7B. Texas also leads spending per capita, $686.1 versus $113.44, on 31,290,831 residents against West Virginia’s 1,769,979. Award counts are 530,634 in Texas and 14,302 in West Virginia. FY2026 obligations are $21.5B in Texas and $200.8M in West Virginia.

What is West Virginia’s lead industry versus Texas?

West Virginia’s top industry is ammunition (except small arms) manufacturing. Texas’s is pharmaceutical preparation manufacturing. Those labels are the largest NAICS slices on $1.7B and $72.7B. Award counts are 14,302 in West Virginia and 530,634 in Texas. The figures are USAspending.gov obligations, not outlays.

Why is Texas’s per-capita figure higher?

The packet reports $686.1 per capita in Texas on 31,290,831 residents and $113.44 in West Virginia on 1,769,979. Stacked stocks are $72.7B versus $1.7B, a larger multiple than the population gap. Award counts are 530,634 versus 14,302. The packet lists USAspending.gov obligations only.

Are Texas vs West Virginia figures Treasury outlays?

No. The $72.7B and $1.7B totals, and FY2026 amounts of $21.5B and $200.8M, are USAspending.gov obligations. Outlays are cash payments and can lag. Spending per capita ($686.1 vs $113.44) uses Census population where present. Award counts in the packet are all-years totals, not a single fiscal year’s actions.