USASpending.gov
The official source for federal spending data — contracts, grants, loans, and direct payments, searchable by agency, recipient, and location.
What should journalists know about USASpending.gov?
USASpending.gov is the single best tool for tracking where federal money goes. It covers every federal award — contracts, grants, loans, direct payments, insurance — going back to FY2001 for award data and FY2017 for account-level data. The federal government spent $7.1 trillion in FY2025, and USASpending tracks every obligation. The interactive tools are genuinely useful: the Spending Explorer lets you drill from total federal spending down to individual awards by budget function, agency, or object class. The Award Search lets you find specific contracts and grants by recipient, location, keyword, or NAICS code. The bulk download feature supports custom exports by agency, award type, and fiscal year. For data journalists, the API is well-documented and reasonably powerful. The site is operated by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service at the U.S. Treasury, and the data comes from agency financial systems and the Federal Procurement Data System. One caveat: there can be a 30-to-90-day lag between when an award is made and when it appears. Beginning in FY2026, the PARK (Program Activity Reporting Key) system replaces existing program activity codes, which will improve data consistency across agencies. For any story involving federal money — who got the contract, which district received the grant, how much an agency spent on consulting — this is where you start.
Tracking federal contracts awarded to specific companies. Finding grants and financial assistance by recipient organization, state, or congressional district. Analyzing agency spending patterns over time. Building datasets of federal awards for data journalism. Investigating defense contracts, healthcare spending, or federal aid distribution. Bulk downloading award data for analysis.
State and local government spending (use state transparency portals or OpenTheBooks). Real-time spending — there is a 30-to-90-day reporting lag. Campaign finance or political donations (use OpenSecrets/FEC). Tax revenue data (use Treasury's Fiscal Data portal). Detailed line-item budgets before they become obligations. Non-US government spending.
Security & Privacy
Data is scrambled while being sent to their servers
Data is scrambled when stored on their servers
Where servers are located — affects which governments can request your data
Privacy policy summary
Federal government website subject to federal privacy laws and OMB policies. No account required to search, explore, or download data. Collects standard web analytics. The spending data is public record. No commercial tracking or advertising.
How to protect yourself:
No account required — all search, exploration, and bulk download features work without registration. The data is public federal spending records, so there is no sensitivity in accessing it. Cross-reference award data with agency press releases and contract announcements for context. Be aware of the reporting lag: awards made in the current quarter may not yet appear. For large data pulls, use the API or bulk download rather than scraping the web interface. Verify recipient names carefully — the same organization can appear under multiple names or DUNS numbers.
Federal government website operated by the U.S. Treasury on government infrastructure. HTTPS throughout. Subject to federal cybersecurity standards (FISMA). No account required. No commercial tracking or advertising. All data is public record. One of the most straightforward government data tools from a security and privacy perspective.
Who Owns This
Pricing
Completely free. All data is public and downloadable in bulk.
This is an editorial assessment based on publicly available information as of 2026-04-11, using our published methodology. Independent security review is pending. Security posture can change at any time. This is not a guarantee of safety.
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