Texas vs West Virginia

Ammunition manufacturing on a $1.7B Appalachian file

West Virginia’s lead NAICS is ammunition (except small arms) manufacturing. That munitions label sits on $1.7B against Texas’s $72.7B pharmaceutical-preparation peak. The pair is a defense-industrial mix versus a drug-manufacturing mix, and a small stacked stock versus a large one. The packet names the peaks; it does not give their shares.

West Virginia files 14,302 awards. Texas files 530,634. The Appalachian tape is thin. An ammunition peak is consistent with concentrated plant work rather than a high-frequency services file. Use the West Virginia and Texas state hubs for agencies and recipients. Cite USAspending.gov.

Forty times the dollars, eighteen times the people

Texas’s 31,290,831 residents are about eighteen times West Virginia’s 1,769,979. Texas’s $72.7B is more than forty times West Virginia’s $1.7B. Dollars outrun population, which is why Texas’s $686.1 per capita sits well above West Virginia’s $113.44. Headcount explains part of the ranking. It does not explain the intensity gap.

Award volume follows scale: 530,634 versus 14,302. West Virginia’s row count is about 3 percent of Texas’s, close to its dollar share and below its population share. The $1.7B file is not award-heavy relative to Texas.

Questions

Does Texas or West Virginia have more federal spending?

Texas leads stacked USAspending.gov obligations $72.7B to West Virginia’s $1.7B. Texas also leads spending per capita, $686.1 versus $113.44, on 31,290,831 residents against West Virginia’s 1,769,979. Award counts are 530,634 in Texas and 14,302 in West Virginia. FY2026 obligations are $21.5B in Texas and $200.8M in West Virginia.

What is West Virginia’s lead industry versus Texas?

West Virginia’s top industry is ammunition (except small arms) manufacturing. Texas’s is pharmaceutical preparation manufacturing. Those labels are the largest NAICS slices on $1.7B and $72.7B. Award counts are 14,302 in West Virginia and 530,634 in Texas. The figures are USAspending.gov obligations, not outlays.

Why is Texas’s per-capita figure higher?

The packet reports $686.1 per capita in Texas on 31,290,831 residents and $113.44 in West Virginia on 1,769,979. Stacked stocks are $72.7B versus $1.7B, a larger multiple than the population gap. Award counts are 530,634 versus 14,302. The packet lists USAspending.gov obligations only.

Are Texas vs West Virginia figures Treasury outlays?

No. The $72.7B and $1.7B totals, and FY2026 amounts of $21.5B and $200.8M, are USAspending.gov obligations. Outlays are cash payments and can lag. Spending per capita ($686.1 vs $113.44) uses Census population where present. Award counts in the packet are all-years totals, not a single fiscal year’s actions.