Where federal tax dollars land around Bakersfield
Federal contracts, grants and other awards with work performed in the county containing Bakersfield, CA — the yearly total, the biggest agencies and the largest recipients.
USAspending.gov API, federal awards by place of performance.
This story was assembled using AI and public data sources.
$5.9B in federal awards was spent in Kern County.
Federal awards, FY 2025: $5.9B — $6,492 per county resident
Federal awards in Kern County, by fiscal year
- 2016: 3018087998
- 2017: 3417912952
- 2018: 3455577804
- 2019: 3752433888
- 2020: 6243775565
- 2021: 6038650276
- 2022: 4295240697
- 2023: 4553551433
- 2024: 4911563442
- 2025: 5910245221
Biggest awarding agencies
- Social Security Administration: 2983668261
- Department of Defense: 960550105
- Department of Energy: 519125783
- Department of Veterans Affairs: 427149142
- Department of Transportation: 275229871
- Department of Education: 133739736
Largest recipients
- MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS: 3433971565
- NATIONAL CEMENT COMPANY OF CALIFORNIA, INC.: 500000000
- DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION CALIFORNIA: 268025289
- X-BOW LAUNCH SYSTEMS INC: 150715257
- V2X AEROSPACE LLC: 82552168
- REDACTED DUE TO PII: 75886829
What it means
Social Security Administration accounts for the largest share — $3.0B of the $5.9B total.
That works out to about $6,492 for every resident of the county, counting contracts, grants, loans and direct payments.
Place of performance means the work happened here — the money may be awarded to a company or agency headquartered elsewhere, and multi-year awards can land in a single year's total.
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau — American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates — Population, income, housing, education, commuting and poverty figures
- Census Bureau API — ACS Detailed Tables — The endpoint these pages are generated from
- data.census.gov — Look up the same tables for any place yourself
- ACS accuracy statement — Estimates carry margins of error; small places vary the most
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