Kentucky vs Texas

Nineteen times the dollars, seven times the people

Texas’s $72.7B sits on 31,290,831 residents. Kentucky’s $3.8B sits on 4,588,372. The population multiple is roughly seven to one; the dollar multiple is about nineteen to one. That gap is why Texas’s spending per capita of $686.1 is far above Kentucky’s $142.1. Headcount explains part of the ranking. It does not explain the intensity gap.

Kentucky still files a busy award tape: 140,157 actions against Texas’s 530,634. That is more than a quarter of Texas’s row count on about one-nineteenth of the dollars. Kentucky’s file is dense in awards relative to its $3.8B stock. Texas’s 530,634 rows sit on a much larger average booking.

Couriers in Kentucky, pharmaceutical preparations in Texas

Kentucky’s lead NAICS is couriers and express delivery services. Texas’s lead NAICS is pharmaceutical preparation manufacturing. Those peaks sit on $3.8B and $72.7B. A logistics peak on the Kentucky side is a first read of mix, not a claim that every Kentucky award is a parcel contract. A drug-manufacturing peak on the Texas side is the same kind of label: the largest industry slice, not the whole 530,634-row file.

Courier work and pharmaceutical manufacturing are different federal buying patterns. One tends toward high-frequency logistics awards; the other toward large manufacturing obligations. The packet does not split those peaks into dollar shares. It only names the top industry in each state. Use the Kentucky and Texas state hubs for agencies and recipients.

Questions

Does Kentucky or Texas have more federal spending?

Texas leads stacked USAspending.gov obligations $72.7B to Kentucky’s $3.8B. Texas also leads spending per capita, $686.1 versus $142.1, on 31,290,831 residents against Kentucky’s 4,588,372. Award counts are 530,634 in Texas and 140,157 in Kentucky. FY2026 obligations are $21.5B in Texas and $652.0M in Kentucky.

Why is Texas’s per-capita figure higher than Kentucky’s?

The packet reports $686.1 per capita in Texas on 31,290,831 residents and $142.1 in Kentucky on 4,588,372. Stacked stocks are $72.7B versus $3.8B, a larger multiple than the population gap. Award counts are 530,634 versus 140,157. These figures are USAspending.gov obligations, not outlays.

What industries lead in Kentucky and Texas?

Kentucky’s top industry is couriers and express delivery services. Texas’s is pharmaceutical preparation manufacturing. Those labels are the largest NAICS slices on $3.8B and $72.7B. Award counts are 140,157 in Kentucky and 530,634 in Texas. Those peaks are mix labels on the stacked stocks, not inventories of every award.

Are Kentucky vs Texas figures Treasury outlays?

No. The $3.8B and $72.7B totals, and FY2026 amounts of $652.0M and $21.5B, are USAspending.gov obligations. Outlays are cash payments and can lag. Spending per capita ($142.1 vs $686.1) uses Census population where present. Award counts in the packet are all-years totals, not a single fiscal year’s actions.