Public money, by ZIP code

You pay taxes. Where do they go?

Enter your ZIP to see every government that serves it, your city or town, county, school district and state, and where each one’s money comes from and goes.

How federal tax money reaches your community

Washington passes part of what it collects on to states, and states pass money on to counties, cities and school districts.

  1. 1
    $1.14 trillion

    Federal grants to state and local governments

    17 cents of every federal dollar spent in the fiscal year ended September 30, 2024.
  2. 2
    $1.07 trillion

    Lands in the 50 state governments’ budgets

    34 cents of every dollar state governments took in, in the latest fiscal year on record (for most states, the year ended June 30, 2024). The other $70.2 billion goes straight to cities, counties, school districts, housing authorities and transit agencies, or falls in another fiscal year (most state years end three months before the federal one).
  3. 3
    $878 billion

    Sent by states to counties, cities, schools and other local governments

    State taxes and federal money passed through, mixed. Enter your ZIP above to see what reaches yours.

Sources: White House budget office (April 2026), Census Bureau (August 2026).

What the federal grants pay for

The $1.14 trillion in federal grants, fiscal year ended September 30, 2024.

Health, mostly Medicaid59%$671 billion
Medicaid grants to states alone: $617.5 billion.
Income support, school meals and housing aid15%$167 billion
Education, job training and social services11%$131 billion
Transportation, mostly highways8.4%$95.4 billion
Community and regional development3.9%$44.6 billion
Natural resources and environment1.1%$12.4 billion
Everything else1.8%$20.8 billion

Federal money in your state’s budget

In the typical state, about a third of the state government’s revenue comes from Washington. Pick yours.

35%

of the typical state government’s revenue comes from Washington. Across the 50 states it runs from 24% to 50%.

Source: Census Bureau (August 2026).

How this worksWhere the numbers come from, what is counted, no grades or rankings

Sources. The U.S. Census Bureau's survey of state and local government finances, governments' own reports where we have added them, and the White House budget office's historical tables for national federal grant totals (White House Office of Management and Budget, Historical Tables 12.1 and 12.3 (FY2027 budget)).

Federal money on this page. Federal grants are from the White House Office of Management and Budget’s Historical Tables, released April 2026, for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2024. The same tables include fiscal 2025 ($1.21 trillion); we show 2024 so it lines up with the state figures. State figures are from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2024 Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances, posted August 2026, the newest release, covering the latest fiscal year on record (for most states, the year ended June 30, 2024).

Latest recorded year. Each government shows the newest fiscal year on file, and the year is labeled on every page. Years differ from one government to the next.

No grades or rankings. We show what each government reports, and where it differs most from a typical peer. We do not judge it. States are listed A to Z.

Amounts. Amounts are what each government reports. When the Census Bureau had to estimate them, the page says so. Federal money a state passes on to local governments shows up in the local government's budget as state aid, so it is not counted twice on any one page.