USAspending.gov · federal contract spending · CY2024 · CA
California federal contract spending
Top-third USAspending place-of-performance jurisdiction by calendar-2024 contract dollars — CA extract with listed primes below.
- Corpus rank
- #3 of 56
- Contract awards (CY2024)
- $59.5B
- State code
- CA
- Top primes
- 20
California vs all states by place-of-performance award dollars
Where this state's calendar-2024 USAspending place-of-performance total sits among every jurisdiction with awards (coverage density, not contractor quality)
$59,462,940,525 Top 5% more award dollars than 95% of 56 states
States, banded by CY place-of-performance award dollars
Each bar is a $1-wide band; taller bars hold more states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source USAspending.gov · 2026-08-14
California place-of-performance awards
According to the USAspending.gov place-of-performance extract, California ranks #3 of 54 by calendar-2024 dollars ($59.5B) and #43 by 2023-to-2024 change (-7.8%). Virginia is #1 of 54 by calendar-2024 place-of-performance dollars ($111.4B) at 2023-to-2024 #27 (+1.6%) ≠ Wisconsin #1 2023-to-2024 change (+60.8%) at dollars #24 ($8.7B).
PlainFedContract attributes awards to California by USAspending.gov primary place of performance (where the work ran), not contractor headquarters. Calendar-2024 dollars stay separate from lifetime recipient totals and complete-FY national pools; see /methodology/#populations/. Not a forecast of future awards.
Year-over-year change, 2019–2024
Across the calendar years on file, California’s annual contract dollars by place of performance fell from $64.5B in 2023 to $59.5B in 2024. 7.8% vs 2023 The strongest year on file is 2023 at $64.5B.
Calendar-year prime contract obligations by action date (award types A-D). Annual figures use the same place-of-performance basis as the CY2024 headline above.
How California leads the CY2024 place-of-performance board
$59.5B · #3 of 56 by CY2024 place-of-performance awards (top 5% nationally) — a top-third jurisdiction by calendar-2024 place-of-performance contract dollars (same board as the states listing). See methodology.
Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC is the largest listed prime with work attributed here at $3.0B, or 5.1% of this state’s calendar-2024 total. Top recipients in this extract tie to 13 awarding agencies — a broad awarding-agency span for the listed primes. Totals use primary place of performance (where the work ran), not contractor headquarters. Methodology.
Top Contractors in California
Listed-prime dollar bands
Exclusive cut of the 20 named primes listed below ($27.4B combined). This is a share of the listed table only, not of California’s full place-of-performance total, and not a forecast.
Source: USAspending.gov · U.S. Department of the Treasury
Mega-scale state peers nationwide
Cross-state peers on the USAspending place-of-performance extract: nearest mega-scale obligation totals and broadest awarding-agency span among listed primes. Not regional neighbors.
Closest place-of-performance obligations
- Texas $66.5B
- Maryland $48.2B
- District of Columbia $36.8B
- Florida $30.6B
- Pennsylvania $27.1B
- Connecticut $22.7B
Similar awarding-agency span
California lists top recipients tied to 13 awarding agencies in the available linked extract.
- Louisiana 13 agencies
- New Mexico 13 agencies
- Oklahoma 13 agencies
- Hawaii 12 agencies
- Rhode Island 14 agencies
- South Carolina 12 agencies
Disclaimer: USAspending.gov public records for a top-tier place-of-performance jurisdiction. Dollar totals aggregate CY2024 awards where work ran in California; verify modifications with Treasury before relying on a single figure.
Next read: Top defense contractors guide · All states · Top contractors
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.