Federal departments by outlays
Department of Health and Human Services paid out $1.8 trillion in the fiscal year to August 31, 2026, more than any other part of the federal government. Of the 27 departments with a comparable figure a year earlier, 14 paid out less than they had at the same point.
American Factbook Research
Net outlays, fiscal year to date · August 31, 2026
| Rank | Name | USD | Change on last year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Department of Health and Human Services | $1,822,378,202,029 | +3.0% |
| 2 | Social Security Administration | $1,586,725,434,764 | +4.9% |
| 3 | Department of the Treasury | $1,520,317,300,730 | +8.9% |
| 4 | Department of Defense--Military Programs | $832,633,471,248 | +4.5% |
| 5 | Department of Veterans Affairs | $395,059,405,295 | +9.9% |
| 6 | Department of Agriculture | $202,292,623,414 | −5.6% |
| 7 | Office of Personnel Management | $124,287,409,221 | +6.2% |
| 8 | Department of Transportation | $109,594,889,432 | +0.3% |
| 9 | Department of Homeland Security | $98,222,170,059 | −6.0% |
| 10 | Department of Housing and Urban Development | $61,686,962,442 | +33.5% |
| 11 | Department of Education | $61,327,395,380 | −56.2% |
| 12 | Other Defense Civil Programs | $57,457,836,827 | −24.0% |
| 13 | Department of Labor | $51,358,064,489 | −5.4% |
| 14 | Department of Energy | $47,466,853,461 | −0.4% |
| 15 | Department of Justice | $41,306,694,995 | +2.5% |
| 16 | Department of State | $24,891,927,642 | −5.0% |
| 17 | National Aeronautics and Space Administration | $21,216,279,163 | −4.7% |
| 18 | International Assistance Programs | $21,194,571,768 | +11.2% |
| 19 | Environmental Protection Agency | $15,983,392,461 | −55.0% |
| 20 | Department of Commerce | $13,000,128,044 | −54.0% |
| 21 | Department of the Interior | $12,832,178,269 | −32.2% |
| 22 | Small Business Administration | $11,679,892,638 | +1,476.8% |
| 23 | Corps of Engineers | $10,899,676,389 | −9.2% |
| 24 | Judicial Branch | $9,140,133,868 | +3.0% |
| 25 | National Science Foundation | $7,951,593,352 | −10.5% |
| 26 | Independent Agencies | $7,562,753,098 | −50.1% |
| 27 | Legislative Branch | $6,471,395,640 | +0.8% |
| 28 | General Services Administration | -$1,064,048,019 | Not shown |
| 29 | Executive Office of the President | -$1,166,326,771 | Not shown |
No change is shown where the prior-year figure was not above zero. A department that takes in more than it pays out reports outlays below zero, and a percentage change measured against a negative base comes back with the opposite sign to the change it describes — the figure would say a department grew in the year its outlays fell further below zero.
What this data cannot show
- These 29 departments do not sum to what the government paid. Treasury also reports -$361,665,004,131 of undistributed offsetting receipts, which is an accounting line rather than a body that spends and so is not ranked here. With it, the classifications sum to $6,811,043,257,196, which is Treasury's own year-to-date total.
- These are outlays — money that left the Treasury. The obligations the rest of this hub is built on are commitments to pay, collected under different rules by a different system. The two do not reconcile, and neither is wrong.
- A department is reported net of offsetting receipts, so a bureau inside it can report a larger figure than the department does. Bureaus are not presented as a breakdown of a department anywhere on this hub.
- Prior-year figures are Treasury’s own, restated in the statement this table is drawn from. They are not the numbers Treasury published a year ago, because every statement restates the months before it.
- The fiscal year is not over. This is the year to date on both sides, so the comparison is like for like, but neither figure is a full year.
Related
Sources
- Treasury Fiscal Data — U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service · U.S. Government work, public domain (17 U.S.C. 105) · retrieved September 19, 2026
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