The US Department of Defense's Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation released its report for Fiscal Year 2023 Defense Spending, Report informs, citing the US Department of Defense.
The report's graphs, maps, and tables present a range of findings, such as total spending figures, categories of contracted goods and services, major defense vendors, numbers and types of defense personnel, and grants awarded by the Department of Defense (DOD).
Defense spending – to include contract obligations, payroll spending, and grants in the 50 states and the District of Columbia - rose by $50.5 billion in Fiscal Year 2023 from the prior fiscal year. This is the result of an 8.9 percent increase in DoD contract obligations, a 5.0 percent increase in payroll spending, and a 7.5 percent increase in grant spending.
DoD contract obligations, payroll spending, and grant awards in the 50 states and the District of Columbia totaled $609.2 billion, which is 2.2 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). If the total spending were divided across every U.S. resident, it would amount to $1,819 per US citizen. Of those funds, $431.4 billion (71 percent) were obligated through contracts for products and services, $167.4 billion (27 percent) paid the salaries of DoD personnel, and $10.4 billion (2 percent) were awarded as grants.
Texas, Virginia, and California remain as the top recipients for overall defense spending in Fiscal Year 2023, with Texas moving to the number one spot, seeing an $8.9 billion increase over Fiscal Year 2022. However, Virginia, Hawaii, and Connecticut ranked highest when considering defense spending impacts on their respective state GDPs.