Data & Calculation Methodology
Comprehensive transparency on data ingestion, formulas, fiscal-year baselines, and mathematical models.
USA Spending is an independent project and is not affiliated with, operated by, sponsored by, or endorsed by the U.S. Government, USAspending.gov, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, or any government agency.
1. Introduction
USA Spending ingests, normalizes, and presents official U.S. government spending data released by federal agencies. Because public accounting datasets use technical terminology, this page documents our exact formulas, data definitions, and visual normalization practices.
2. Data Types & Financial Metrics
3. Fiscal Year Baseline
U.S. Federal Fiscal Years (FY) do not match calendar years. A federal fiscal year begins on October 1st of the preceding calendar year and ends on September 30th.
FY2024 = October 1, 2023 – September 30, 2024 (366 Days — Leap Year)
4. Spending Rate Calculations
To help users conceptualize trillion-dollar budgets, annual outlays are converted into per-timeframe rates:
Disclaimer: Rate conversions are mathematical averages calculated over the fiscal year. They do not represent live per-second bank wire transactions.
5. Percentage Calculations
Percentage share is computed strictly as:
6. Pie Chart Reconciliation
Pie and donut charts enforce strict visual part-to-whole integrity. Where top categories are displayed, an explicit "Other / Remaining Federal Functions" component reconciles the chart to 100.0% of total federal spending ($6.75 Trillion in FY2026).
7. Historical Data Consistency
Historical trend curves preserve historical reporting baselines without inflation adjustment unless specifically labeled.
8. State Geographic Allocation
"Federal spending associated with a state" represents federal prime contract performance locations or recipient addresses in USAspending datasets.
It does NOT represent state government tax revenue, local municipal budgets, or direct personal tax burdens.
9. Recipient Data Attribution
Recipient data displays prime awardees as registered in SAM.gov / USAspending. Inclusion of an entity does not imply political endorsement or wrongdoing.
10. Category Classification
Category groupings correspond to official OMB budget function codes and USAspending major object classes.
11. Limitations & Updates
Federal reporting is subject to agency revisions and reporting lags. Data displays update dynamically as official feeds refresh.