$900 Million in Annual Wages Paid to 19,000 Federal Workers Living in New Hampshire

Concord, New Hampshire – A new study from the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute (NHFPI) finds that the federal government awarded $14.8 billion in contracts, grants, and direct payments for work and services in New Hampshire in Federal Fiscal Year 2024, or the equivalent of about 12% of the state’s entire economy in 2024. These funds supported everything from Social Security and Medicaid to military contracts, housing assistance, and higher education – highlighting the broad impact of federal spending in New Hampshire’s economy.

Researchers analyzed federal data on spending, contracts, tax credits, and employment using sources from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Rockefeller Institute of Government, and federal records. The NHFPI study tracks where funds are spent, how they flow through the state, and what is at risk if major federal policy shifts occur.

“Federal dollars power much of New Hampshire’s economy, from health care that keeps people well to the contracts that keep people employed,” said Phil Sletten, the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute’s research director and lead author of this study.

This $14.8 billion total reflects only new federal awards obligated in Federal Fiscal Year 2024 for work to be performed in New Hampshire, including direct assistance to individuals, grants to state and local governments, and contracts with private companies and nonprofits. It does not include wages paid to federal employees in the state, Medicare spending, or tax credits delivered through the tax code. A separate estimate using broader criteria found that federal expenditures in FFY 2022, including all forms of direct payments, contracts, tax credits, and federal wages, totaled $21.8 billion in New Hampshire, or about 21% of the state’s entire economy and personal income that year.

Other key findings from the study include:

• About 19,000 New Hampshire residents worked for the federal government in 2023, including about 9,000 with jobs based physically in the state. The federal government paid more than $900 million in annual wages to the local economy through those state-based employees in 2023.
• New Hampshire residents and businesses paid more to the federal government than the state received in return. Granite Staters contributed about $17,347 per person in federal taxes and fees, while receiving about $15,611 per capita in federal spending.
• Federal spending in New Hampshire is lower than in most other states as a share of the economy, with only 14 states receiving less relative to their Gross State Product and just six states receiving less relative to total personal income.

“From health care to higher education to defense, federal funds help sustain essential programs while also supporting jobs and economic activity in New Hampshire,” said Sletten. “As lawmakers consider future funding decisions, understanding the scope and impact of these dollars is key to making informed choices for the state.”

You can read the full New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute study, Federal Funding and Employment in New Hampshire, at https://nhfpi.org/resource/federal-funding-and-employment-in-new-hampshire/.

###