Developing Federal Government Consumption Expenditures and Gross Investment Statistics by State

This paper details BEA’s ongoing efforts to develop experimental statistics on federal government consumption expenditures and gross investment by state. These new statistics would provide valuable information for policymaking, research, and business decision-making at the state level, complementing BEA’s national data on federal spending. The methodology used to prepare the experimental estimates relies on a wide variety of source data and it is consistent with the methodology used for the corresponding national statistics. When state-level detail is available in the source data used for the national statistics, it is directly applied; when such detail is lacking, alternative sources and a modified methodology are used. In general, the statistics are derived from allocators developed for each detailed component of federal government expenditures, which are used to allocate national component totals to states. Preliminary estimates for 2012–2023 show considerable variation in the economic impact of federal government spending across states. For example, on average from 2012 to 2023, federal spending as a percentage of state gross domestic product ranged from 2.5 percent in Delaware to 27.6 percent in Virginia, with the District of Columbia averaging 51.9 percent. As these estimates are preliminary, BEA invites feedback from stakeholders and data users to improve the methodology and accuracy of these statistics.