Texas passes Virginia in Pentagon contract work as D.C. region draws $80 billion

By Garrett Sloane

WASHINGTON — Texas passed Virginia in fiscal 2025 as the state where the most Pentagon contract work is performed, according to federal spending data. Even so, Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia together drew about $80.1 billion in Defense Department contract obligations, roughly one of every six dollars the department obligated on contracts nationwide.

The Washington Inquisitor analyzed Defense Department contract obligations on USAspending.gov by place of performance, meaning where the work is done rather than where a company is headquartered. Fiscal 2025 ran from Oct. 1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2025. It is the most recent complete year, because the department publishes contract data on a 90-day delay. Obligations are money the government has legally committed. They are not contract ceilings.

The top 10 states

Nationally, Defense Department contract obligations rose to $467.16 billion in fiscal 2025 from $418.34 billion the year before.

One company explains Texas

Most of Texas’s jump traces to one contractor. Two Lockheed Martin Corp. recipient records in USAspending together accounted for $40.90 billion of Pentagon contract work performed in Texas in fiscal 2025, up from $18.04 billion in fiscal 2024. That increase of about $22.9 billion is larger than Texas’s entire $21.7 billion gain. Partial fiscal 2026 data, still subject to the reporting delay, also show Texas ahead of Virginia.

Where the D.C.-region money goes

Virginia’s $53.10 billion works out to about $6,152 per resident, second among the 50 states only to Connecticut. Maryland’s works out to about $3,112 per resident. The District drew $7.82 billion, or about $11,335 per resident.

Within Virginia, Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads dominate:

In Maryland, the leading jurisdictions were St. Mary’s County, home to Naval Air Station Patuxent River ($4.30 billion), Anne Arundel County ($3.83 billion), Howard County ($2.96 billion), Montgomery County ($2.50 billion), Harford County ($2.03 billion) and Prince George’s County ($1.32 billion).

The biggest recipients

The largest recipients of contract work performed in Virginia were ADS Inc. ($5.67 billion), Huntington Ingalls ($4.09 billion), Lockheed Martin ($3.46 billion), Leidos ($1.62 billion), Booz Allen Hamilton ($1.27 billion), Amentum ($1.13 billion), CACI ($0.99 billion) and SAIC ($0.93 billion).

In Maryland, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory led with $1.87 billion, followed by BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services ($0.74 billion), TCOM ($0.69 billion), Leidos ($0.66 billion) and V2X ($0.52 billion). In the District, the leaders were Dell ($0.62 billion), Booz Allen ($0.33 billion), Deloitte ($0.30 billion), Serco ($0.26 billion), EY ($0.24 billion) and the Institute for Defense Analyses ($0.24 billion).

These figures are for individual recipient entities as recorded in USAspending, not parent companies’ consolidated totals. A company’s work in a state can be split across several subsidiaries. The region’s corporate footprint is also growing: Booz Allen announced in November 2025 that it will move its global headquarters from McLean to Reston, with the new space expected to open in fall 2027.

Methodology

Figures are Defense Department contract obligations (award types A through D) for fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2024, by place of performance, as reported on USAspending.gov and retrieved Oct. 26, 2026. Rankings include the 50 states and the District. Per-resident figures are those USAspending reports. Amounts are rounded. Obligations reflect net actions in a year and can include deobligations.

Request for comment

The Washington Inquisitor sought comment from the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, Booz Allen Hamilton, Leidos, HII, Amentum, General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin. This story will be updated with any responses.

Featured image: An aerial view of the Potomac River with a section of National Airport in the foreground and Washington in the background, Jan. 17, 1991. Department of Defense photo by Master Sgt. Ken Hammond, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.