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FY2023 federal balance

Is District of Columbia a net beneficiary?

In FY2023, District of Columbia received about $55.1 billion more in federal spending than its residents paid in federal taxes. For every $1 in federal taxes paid by District of Columbia, the state got back $4.45 in federal spending.

What this measures: federal taxes collected from people and companies in District of Columbia (income tax, payroll tax, corporate tax) compared against federal dollars spent inside District of Columbia (Social Security to retirees, Medicare and Medicaid, federal employee salaries, contracts, grants).

“Per resident” figures are state-level totals divided by population — not money each person personally received. They fold together direct payments to individuals, federal salaries, government grants, and corporate contracts. Treat them as a way to compare states, not as a per-person check. Use the calculator below to see your own balance.

Federal taxes paid$16 billion$23,495 / resident
Federal spending received$71 billion$104,579 / resident
Net gain$55.1 billion$81,084 / resident
Return per $1$4.45gets more than it pays

Where the spending lands

The $71B of federal spending in District of Columbia splits into four buckets. Only one of them — direct payments — flows to people. The rest goes to companies, contractors, the state government, or federal workers.

  • Direct payments
    $8.7B12.2%

    Social Security, Medicare, veterans benefits, federal retirement, food assistance — paid directly to people in the state.

  • Grants to state & local govt
    $6B8.5%

    Medicaid match, highway funding, education aid, public housing — flows through the state government, not to individuals.

  • Contracts to companies
    $34B47.8%

    Federal procurement — defense, IT, professional services. Money goes to the contractor, not residents.

  • Federal salaries
    $22.2B31.2%

    Wages for federal employees stationed in the state: military bases, federal labs, court staff, agency offices.

  • Other identified
    $185M0.3%

    OPM-administered retirement, interest, and minor line items.

How District of Columbia compares

Among the 50 states and D.C., the District of Columbia has the largest per-resident positive balance. The Comptroller’s ranked table treats D.C. separately because it’s a federal district, not a state — and an extreme outlier, since the federal government is physically headquartered there and federal employee salaries dominate the local economy.

On a per-resident basis, federal spending attributed to District of Columbia was about $104,579, while federal taxes attributed to District of Columbia were about $23,495 — a net positive balance of about $81,084 per resident. Again — that’s a state-level number divided by population, not a personal benefit. It includes federal salaries, contracts to companies, and grants to the state government, not just checks to individuals.

Important: this does not mean each DC resident personally received $104,579. Much of DC’s federal spending reflects the cost of running the federal government itself — payroll for federal employees, agency operations, contracts to firms based in DC, Congress, the courts, and other national institutions located there. The spending gets geographically attributed to DC and then divided by DC’s small population (~679k), which inflates the per-resident number.

Because the federal government spends more than it collects each year (~$1.7T deficit in FY2023), most states show a positive balance on paper — the deficit has to land somewhere. The honest comparison is the return ratio: how many federal dollars come back per dollar sent. The national ratio is $1.32 per $1. District of Columbia sits at $4.45 per $1 — pulling more than its share of the deficit.

See how much you personally paid into the federal pot

District of Columbia’s balance is the state-level picture. Plug in your salary and filing status to see your own federal tax bill and where it goes across the budget.

Compute your receipt →

Other states & D.C.

● Verified — figures are based on the New York State Comptroller’s FFY 2023 Balance of Payments report and its full Excel supplement. Per-capita tax, spending, and balance figures are matched to the Comptroller’s published data; totals are rounded for display.

Sources: NY State Comptroller, “New York’s Balance of Payments in the Federal Budget: Federal Fiscal Year 2023” (April 2025); Rockefeller Institute of Government, “Giving or Getting?” 2025 report; IRS Data Book Table 5.