The federal government spent $10,612 per person domestically last year, including more than $5,000 per person on direct safety-net programs such as Social Security, unemployment benefits and housing assistance, according to the latest tally from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Broken down by states, Alaskans fared the best, with an average of nearly $18,000 per person in federal domestic spending, followed by Virginia, where a huge defense procurement industry meant the government spent more than $17,000 per person.
Were it a state, the District of Columbia, which is the seat of the federal government, would have topped them all at $102,904 per person in spending.
Nevada got the least federal spending at less than $8,000 per person.
All told, the government spent $3.276 trillion domestically in fiscal 2010. Of that, 27.9 percent went to retirement and disability payments, another 25 percent went to direct payments such as housing assistance or medical care, 20.9 percent went to grants, 15.8 percent was spent on procurement contracts, and 10.5 percent went to salaries and wages.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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