Louisiana vs Virginia
Federal spending comparison
Louisiana shows $4.7B in federal obligations on USAspending.gov. Virginia shows $110.8B. Louisiana’s top industry is ship building and repairing — the only shipyard lead in this set of 25 pairs — against Virginia’s other computer related services. FY 2026 is the latest year. Totals are obligations, not Treasury outlays Louisiana’s 72,577 awards and $268.17 per capita compare with Virginia’s 1,116,647 awards and $1,344.24 per capita. Ship building and repairing leads Louisiana’s mix FY 2026 remains the latest year on both columns.
Key figures
- Louisiana $4.7B vs Virginia $110.8B in USAspending obligations.
- Populations 4,597,740 vs 8,811,195; per-capita $268.17 vs $1,344.24.
- Awards: 72,577 (LA) vs 1,116,647 (VA).
- Top industries: ship building and repairing vs other computer related services.
- FY 2026 latest year; obligations, not outlays.
A Gulf Coast industrial lead on a $4.7B book
Ship building and repairing as a top NAICS description is specific in a way “other computer related services” is not. It points to hulls, repair availabilities, and related yard work coded to Louisiana place of performance. That does not make Louisiana a larger federal market than Virginia. $4.7B versus $110.8B is still roughly 1-to-24 on the obligation stock.
Louisiana’s Census population is 4,597,740, about half of Virginia’s 8,811,195. Population explains a slice of the dollar gap, not the rest. USAspending.gov attributes a large professional-services stock to Virginia and a smaller, shipyard-led stock to Louisiana.
Ship building and repairing is the only shipyard top-industry label in this assigned batch. That uniqueness is the reason to write Louisiana versus Virginia as a yards-versus-IT pair rather than as a generic small-state pair. Scale still belongs in the same paragraph: $4.7B versus $110.8B, 4,597,740 versus 8,811,195 residents, 72,577 versus 1,116,647 awards.
Award counts: 72,577 versus 1,116,647
Louisiana’s 72,577 awards are a short file next to Virginia’s 1,116,647. Shipyard work can sit on fewer, larger production and repair awards than a computer-services modification mill. The packet does not split the 72,577 actions into ship work versus everything else, so the shipbuilding label is the leading slice only.
A short action list plus $4.7B is still a material federal footprint. It is not Virginia’s $110.8B footprint. Quote both columns so the pair is not reduced to industry color without scale.
A 72,577-action file under $4.7B is consistent with lumpy production and repair awards. Virginia’s 1,116,647 actions under $110.8B are consistent with a services-modification stack. Those are readings of published columns. This page does not invent an average award value or name yards.
Full analysis: Louisiana vs Virginia on USAspending →
Questions
- How does Louisiana federal spending compare with Virginia?
- Louisiana shows $4.7B in USAspending obligations; Virginia shows $110.8B. Louisiana’s population is 4,597,740 versus 8,811,195 in Virginia. Totals are obligations, not Treasury outlays. FY 2026 is the latest year in the comparison. Figures come from SpendingVault aggregates of USAspending.gov award records. They are obligations — recorded commitments — not Treasury outlays, and FY 2026 is the latest year in the comparison.
- What is Louisiana’s top federal industry vs Virginia?
- Louisiana’s top industry is ship building and repairing. Virginia’s is other computer related services. Those NAICS descriptions are the leading slices in SpendingVault’s aggregates, not a complete list of either state’s federal awards. Figures come from SpendingVault aggregates of USAspending.gov award records. They are obligations — recorded commitments — not Treasury outlays, and FY 2026 is the latest year in the comparison.
- What is Louisiana’s federal spending per capita compared with Virginia?
- Louisiana’s spending per capita is $268.17. Virginia’s is $1,344.24. Both divide USAspending obligations by Census population (4,597,740 and 8,811,195). Per-capita is a scaling statistic, not a payment to residents. Figures come from SpendingVault aggregates of USAspending.gov award records. They are obligations — recorded commitments — not Treasury outlays, and FY 2026 is the latest year in the comparison.
- How many federal awards are in Louisiana vs Virginia?
- Louisiana has 72,577 awards in this aggregate; Virginia has 1,116,647. Award counts include contracts, grants, and modifications. Virginia also leads on dollars, $110.8B versus Louisiana’s $4.7B. Figures come from SpendingVault aggregates of USAspending.gov award records. They are obligations — recorded commitments — not Treasury outlays, and FY 2026 is the latest year in the comparison.
State comparison from SpendingVault aggregates of USAspending obligations. Per-capita uses Census population where present.
| Louisiana | Metric | Virginia |
|---|---|---|
| $42.09B | Total Spending | $68.13B |
| $9K | Per Capita | $8K |
| N/A | % of GDP | N/A |
| 4.6M | Population | 8.8M |
| N/A | Median Income | N/A |
| N/A | Poverty Rate | N/A |
| N/A | Bachelor Degree % | N/A |
| N/A | Median Age | N/A |
| N/A | Unemployment | N/A |
| N/A | GDP (Millions) | N/A |
Top Agencies — Louisiana
- Department of Health and Human Services$78.42B
- Social Security Administration$54.78B
- Department of Homeland Security$21.72B
- Department of Defense$19.37B
- Department of Agriculture$12.04B
Top Agencies — Virginia
- Department of Defense$325.98B
- Department of Health and Human Services$147.16B
- Social Security Administration$106.40B
- Department of Veterans Affairs$103.76B
- Small Business Administration$33.43B
Top Industries — Louisiana
- SHIP BUILDING AND REPAIRING$9.58B
- OTHER HEAVY AND CIVIL ENGINEERING CONSTRUCTION$4.88B
- FACILITIES SUPPORT SERVICES$3.06B
- GUIDED MISSILE AND SPACE VEHICLE PROPULSION UNIT AND PROPULSION UNIT PARTS MANUFACTURING$2.87B
- COMMERCIAL AND INSTITUTIONAL BUILDING CONSTRUCTION$1.76B
Top Industries — Virginia
- COMPUTER SYSTEMS DESIGN SERVICES$72.99B
- SHIP BUILDING AND REPAIRING$69.56B
- DIRECT HEALTH AND MEDICAL INSURANCE CARRIERS$61.44B
- ENGINEERING SERVICES$60.92B
- OTHER COMPUTER RELATED SERVICES$38.52B
Source: USAspending.gov · More Comparisons · Louisiana · Virginia