Where federal tax dollars land around BOULDER

Federal contracts, grants and other awards with work performed in the county containing BOULDER, CO — 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.

$3.2B in federal awards was spent in Boulder County.

Federal awards, FY 2025: $3.2B — $9,846 per county resident

Federal awards in Boulder County, by fiscal year

2016: 1936789145
2017: 2022349085
2018: 2210741207
2019: 2417998770
2020: 3640631349
2021: 3616370044
2022: 2570157279
2023: 2878072518
2024: 3091780515
2025: 3232729410

Biggest awarding agencies

Social Security Administration: 1487965520
National Science Foundation: 377983335
National Aeronautics and Space Administration: 304099149
Department of Defense: 222079908
Department of Commerce: 218815951
Department of Energy: 137579229

Largest recipients

MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS: 1605658078
THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO: 425764979
UNIVERSITY CORPORATION FOR ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH: 236162400
BAE SYSTEMS SPACE & MISSION SYSTEMS INC.: 204243330
E SOURCE COMPANIES LLC: 115420357
BATTELLE MEMORIAL INSTITUTE: 97595704

What it means

Social Security Administration accounts for the largest share — $1.5B of the $3.2B total.

That works out to about $9,846 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

Loading the live page…