Updated April 2026 · FY2024 USAspending.gov data
Illinois Federal Spending
IL · Rank #17 of 51
Illinois is a major federal-spending state. 59 contractors based in Illinois together pulled $10.4B in federal obligations — about 1.97% of national contract spending — across the most recent fiscal year reported by USAspending.gov.
Why Illinois Ranks Where It Does
Large federal-spending states like Illinois usually combine one or two flagship agency relationships with a deeper bench of professional-services and IT contractors. Department of Defense sits at the top of Illinois's agency ledger; the supporting cast (legal services, engineering, R&D, healthcare administration) tends to spread across many smaller awards rather than a few large ones.
For broader context, see the federal spending by state breakdown, which ranks every state and DC against this same dataset, or look at spending by industry to see which categories dominate nationally.
Top Contractors in Illinois
| Rank | Contractor | Obligations |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Optum Public Sector Solutions, Inc. | $119.0M |
| #2 | Lockheed Martin Corporation | $99.4M |
| #3 | Mckesson Corporation | $53.2M |
| #4 | The Boeing Company | $50.8M |
| #5 | Electric Boat Corporation | $50.7M |
| #6 | Triwest Healthcare Alliance Corp. | $49.5M |
| #7 | Humana Government Business Inc. | $47.5M |
| #8 | Raytheon Company | $45.8M |
| #9 | Huntington Ingalls Incorporated | $44.0M |
| #10 | Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. | $40.9M |
Illinois's federal-contracting base is broad. Optum Public Sector Solutions, Inc. is the largest single recipient at $119.0M (about 1.1% of state total), but no contractor dominates — the state's spending is spread across many recipients, which makes the total more resilient to any one contract decision.
What the Federal Government Buys in Illinois
The largest spending category in Illinois is Defense & Weapons at $3.7B. That category mix tells you what the federal government is buying from Illinois contractors — services, manufactured goods, research, or construction. The Federal Procurement Data System uses the Product and Service Code (PSC) hierarchy to tag every award; the breakdown shown on this page rolls those PSCs into the major categories.
How These Numbers Are Calculated
Every total on this page is computed from the USAspending.gov award dataset, filtered to recipients with a primary place of performance in Illinois. Recipient identity is reconciled to the SAM.gov Unique Entity ID, which ties subsidiaries that file separately to a single parent record where the federal data supports it. Industry rollups follow the Product and Service Code hierarchy maintained by the Federal Procurement Data System. Read the full methodology.
Frequently Asked Questions About Illinois Federal Spending
How much federal contract spending does Illinois receive?
Illinois received $10,432,721,689 in federal contract obligations in the most recent fiscal year (FY2024), based on USAspending.gov data. That ranks Illinois #17 of 51 states (and DC) for federal contract spending.
Who is the biggest federal contractor in Illinois?
Optum Public Sector Solutions, Inc. is the largest federal contractor based in Illinois, with $119.0M in obligations. The full top-contractor list is shown above; click any name to open that contractor's profile, including all agencies, categories, and individual awards.
Which federal agencies spend the most in Illinois?
Department of Defense is the dominant federal customer in Illinois at $5.7B, followed by Department of Health and Human Services. The agency panel shows the full mix; large states usually show several agencies, while smaller-spending states tend to be dominated by one.
What does the federal government buy in Illinois?
The biggest spending category in Illinois is Defense & Weapons at $3.7B. Categories follow the PSC hierarchy from the Federal Procurement Data System and span services, products, research, and construction.
Where does this data come from?
Every figure is sourced from USAspending.gov, the official federal spending database mandated by the DATA Act. Recipient identity is reconciled to SAM.gov Unique Entity ID registrations. Data is public domain and refreshes whenever USAspending.gov publishes a new release.
Source: U.S. federal government, USAspending.gov & SAM.gov. Data is public domain. Cite as: "TaxDollarData, Illinois federal spending, FY2024. Data: USAspending.gov."
Last updated 2026-04-09 · figures represent federal obligations for FY2024.
For this entity, the underlying data on this page comes from USASpending.gov federal awards data. The breakdown above is the federal record; the paragraphs below add the per-entity context that makes the headline numbers usable for a real decision rather than just a data lookup.
Every number on this page links back to USASpending.gov federal awards data; the methodology page describes the inputs, refresh cadence, and known limitations of the underlying data product.
For readers using this page as a decision input, the related-entity pages elsewhere on the site provide the comparison set. The most useful comparison for this entity is typically a peer within U.S. federal contracts, grants, and awards with similar size, similar exposure, or similar geography — not the national-level summary alone.