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How do California and Texas rank in terms of total federal funding received from 2020 to 2025?
Executive summary
Available reporting shows California is frequently identified as a net “donor” state — meaning its residents and businesses pay more in federal taxes than the federal government spends there — while Texas is commonly shown as a net recipient in recent datasets. For 2022–2024-era data frequently cited by outlets and analysts, California’s gap is often reported near $70–$275 billion depending on the measure and year, while Texas is reported as receiving tens of billions more than it pays in some datasets (examples: California ≈ $83.1 billion donor gap in Rockefeller Institute reporting cited by PolitiFact and others; USAFacts reports California paid about $275.6 billion more than it received in FY2024 and Texas a $68.1 billion gap in FY2024) [1] [2].
1. What “total federal funding” and “net balance” mean — and why numbers vary
Analysts use different concepts: “total federal funding” usually means dollars disbursed to a state (grants, contracts, benefits, defense spending, etc.), while “net balance” compares that funding to federal taxes contributed by residents and businesses. Methodology choices — fiscal year vs. calendar year, inclusion or exclusion of COVID-era relief, whether federal contracts and defense obligations are counted, and revisions to IRS data — change the results substantially. For example, the Rockefeller Institute’s “balance of payments” approach produced the $83.1 billion donor figure for California in one dataset, but other analyses (and later revisions) produce different magnitudes [1] [3].
2. Recent headline figures: what reporters and fact-checkers are citing
PolitiFact summarized a high-profile claim that California provides $83.1 billion more than it receives and that Texas receives $71.1 billion more than it pays; PolitiFact judged the Newsom tweet “Mostly True” based on nonpartisan data such as the Rockefeller Institute’s balance-of-payments work [1]. USAFacts reported that in FY2024 California residents paid about $275.6 billion more to the federal government than they received, and listed Texas among states with large imbalances in either direction [2]. Those two sources illustrate how commonly cited datasets yield different magnitudes while agreeing on the broad pattern: California is a donor state and Texas often receives relatively more federal spending per taxes paid [1] [2].
3. Absolute funding totals vs. per-capita and program mix
Some sources show California receives the largest absolute amount of federal disbursements because of its population and program scale — WorldPopulationReview listed California as receiving the highest total amount at $43.61 billion in a particular table, though that figure appears to be a specific line item or subset rather than total federal flows across all programs [4]. USAFacts noted that in 2024 California accounted for roughly 10.9% of all federal disbursements while Texas accounted for 7.2% — reflecting the two states’ large populations and roles in federal contracts, defense, and entitlement spending [2].
4. Policy context and political framing
State officials and advocacy groups use these numbers for different aims. California’s government highlights donor-state arguments to criticize federal cuts and to argue Californians subsidize other states’ priorities (as in the California governor’s communications and state fact sheets citing ~ $83 billion) [5] [6]. Budget and civic-data organizations (e.g., Rockefeller Institute, USAFacts, PolitiFact) present the underlying calculations for transparency but also note caveats such as COVID-era distortions and methodological choices [1] [3] [2].
5. What this means for 2020–2025 comparisons and the user question
Available sources do not provide a single, consistent table labeled “total federal funding received by California and Texas from 2020–2025.” Instead, reporting offers snapshots and year-by-year balances with different inclusions. Summarizing the coverage: multiple reputable datasets and fact-checkers show California as a net donor in recent years (figures commonly cited include roughly $83.1 billion in a Rockefeller-based comparison and up to $275.6 billion in a USAFacts FY2024 balance) and show Texas as receiving more than it pays in some analyses (PolitiFact referenced Texas receiving about $71.1 billion more than it provides in that same Rockefeller framing) [1] [2] [3].
6. How to get a precise 2020–2025 ranking you can cite
If you need a single, defensible ranking or exact totals for 2020–2025, choose and cite one dataset and its method (for example Rockefeller Institute/“Who Gives and Who Gets?” for balance-of-payments, or USAFacts for FY2024 disbursement shares), then extract year-by-year numbers from that source. Available sources here point you to Rockefeller Institute work used by PolitiFact and to USAFacts’ FY2024 breakdowns; neither source in this collection delivers a consolidated 2020–2025 sum across both states in one table that’s been provided to me [1] [2].
Limitations: this note relies only on the provided documents; sources referenced above differ in methodology and year coverage, and some sources make political or advocacy claims that reflect an agenda (California government and state advocacy pieces intend to influence federal policy debates) [6] [5] [7]. For a definitive, reproducible ranking, consult the primary datasets (Rockefeller Institute, USAFacts, IRS/BEA breakdowns) and specify inclusion rules before comparing 2020–2025 totals [1] [2].