We wondered what we could learn by analyzing ten years of USAspending data on federal contract spending. We also wanted to know if we could identify a relationship between the type of funding provided by Congress--new appropriations or continuing resolutions--and the amount the federal government spends on contracts.
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The government has almost 2,000 spending accounts that it uses to spend money. Use this interactive tree-style visualization to explore these accounts and see how much money has been spent.
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The federal government spends about $500 billion each year on contracts -- that's roughly the size of Sweden's economy. Learn more about contract recipients and what agencies receive from these contracts.
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On a single night in 2016, more than 500,000 people experienced homelessness in the United States. This visualization uses grant data to show the federal government's approach to addressing homelessness.
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Data from USAspending.gov allows you to connect two different ways the government categorizes spending: what it pays for and what it's trying to achieve with those purchases. Use this visualization to explore broad spending categories.
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There are hundreds of types of federal employees - special agents, park rangers, and medical staff who care for veterans, to name just a few - who live all across the United States. Use this visualization to explore federal employees’ occupations, salaries, and locations.
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The federal government is required to use competition when issuing contracts for goods and services, with a few exceptions. See which federal agencies employ competitive practices most frequently with this analysis.
Discover ⟶Guidance and hints to help
you conduct data analyses
Guidance on accessing our data
with open source code
Ways for students and
schools to get involved
