Glassbox VA · geography · methodology

How the geographic comparison is built

Two public sources, one question: where VA reports spending in a state, does the federal award record show the same programs? Every number on the geography pages comes from the files listed below, through the rules on this page. Differences are variances to review — the known reasons two correct datasets differ are listed with them.

1 · Sources

What is loaded, and as of when

GDX: VA National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics (Office of Enterprise Integration), va.gov/vetdata/expenditures.asp. The per-year workbooks are loaded as published (state-level sheets); each is checked against VA's own Totals row before it is stored. The data.va.gov dataset 2hnn-8vkt ("GDX FY22") holds only the FY2022 notes, not the figures, so the workbooks are used. FY2008–FY2011 workbooks (legacy .xls) are not loaded because USAspending assistance for those years is incomplete. USAspending: award data archive, VA (agency 036) contract and assistance transaction files.

GDX year	Workbook	Prepared	SHA-256	Loaded	USAspending year fully loaded
FY2012	GDX_FY12_V1.xlsx	—	7df64bee258f…	2026-09-25	assistance yes · contracts yes
FY2013	GDX_FY13.xlsx	—	d583bdcb501b…	2026-09-25	assistance yes · contracts yes
FY2014	GDX_FY14.xlsx	—	f250de6e6da7…	2026-09-25	assistance yes · contracts yes
FY2015	GDX_FY15.xlsx	—	8fdd6f6abd12…	2026-09-25	assistance yes · contracts yes
FY2016	GDX_FY16.xlsx	the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, June 2017	24379b62ac2b…	2026-09-25	assistance yes · contracts yes
FY2017	GDX_FY17_v1.xlsx	the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, June 2018	91c134be2b84…	2026-09-25	assistance yes · contracts yes
FY2018	GDX_FY18.xlsx	the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, May 2019	7588e1d31e1c…	2026-09-25	assistance yes · contracts yes
FY2019	GDX_FY19.xlsx	the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, April 2020	759c3e227214…	2026-09-25	assistance yes · contracts yes
FY2020	GDX_FY20.xlsx	the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, June 2021	9bd6af811177…	2026-09-25	assistance yes · contracts yes
FY2021	GDX_FY21.xlsx	the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, May 2022	e84212be6c44…	2026-09-25	assistance yes · contracts yes
FY2022	GDX_FY22.xlsx	the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, April 2023	39fe69b86602…	2026-09-25	assistance yes · contracts yes
FY2023	GDX_FY23.xlsx	the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, May 2024	5c3306d5790e…	2026-09-25	assistance yes · contracts yes
FY2024	GDX_FY24.xlsx	the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, September 2025	f55b40aa9ff4…	2026-09-25	assistance yes · contracts yes
FY2025	GDX_FY25.xlsx	the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, September 2026	1cf95d35c842…	2026-09-25	assistance yes · contracts yes

A USAspending fiscal year counts as fully loaded when all 12 months carry county-aggregated disability-compensation rows (assistance) and at least 500 contract transactions in every month (contracts). Years that fail are shown as not compared, never as gaps. USAspending months loaded: FY2005 0/2 · FY2006 0/1 · FY2007 0/3 · FY2008 0/12 · FY2009 0/12 · FY2010 0/12 · FY2011 7/12 · FY2012 12/12 · FY2013 12/12 · FY2014 12/12 · FY2015 12/12 · FY2016 12/12 · FY2017 12/12 · FY2018 12/12 · FY2019 12/12 · FY2020 12/12 · FY2021 12/12 · FY2022 12/12 · FY2023 12/12 · FY2024 12/12 · FY2025 12/12 · FY2026 10/12 (assistance/contracts).

2 · Measures

Expenditures are not obligations

GDX figures are estimated expenditures — money paid out in the fiscal year. USAspending figures are obligations — commitments recorded in the fiscal year. VA's own GDX guide warns that other sources "may show Obligations or Net Outlays rather than Expenditures". For monthly benefits the two are close; for construction they can differ by years.

GDX expenditure: VA's estimate of money spent in the fiscal year, by state (an expenditure measure, closer to outlays than to obligations; VA notes it can differ from both), from VA's Geographic Distribution of VA Expenditures report.
USAspending obligations: Net obligations recorded on USAspending.gov in the same fiscal year (sum of every transaction's federal action obligation), for the programs mapped to the same GDX category.
Coverage ratio: USAspending ÷ GDX. 100% means the award record accounts for the same dollars VA reports as spent. Obligations and expenditures are different measures, so exact agreement is not expected.

3 · Categories

What GDX counts, how it places it, and whether it is compared

GDX changed its categories in FY2024 (new direct/indirect layout; DIC & Survivors Pension, Specially Adapted Housing, Automobiles, Education, VR&E and Memorial Benefits published separately; General Operating Expenses dropped). Columns are harmonised back to the FY2012–FY2023 definitions so each series is like-for-like; the raw column names VA published are kept in the database (gdx.expenditure.source_column).

Compensation & Pension

Compared

GDX definition: Disability compensation, disability pension, Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) and survivors pension; through FY2023 also burial allowances. From FY2024 VA publishes DIC & Survivors Pension as its own column and moves burial to Memorial Benefits; this page adds the DIC column back so the series stays like-for-like.
GDX places it by: Beneficiary's residence (payments aggregated by county of the recipient).
GDX source: FY2008–FY2023: USAspending.gov (plus FMS for certain C&P items), per the GDX data guide · FY2024+: VBA Office of Performance Analysis & Integrity (PA&I), county-level payment data
USAspending side: Assistance listings 64.109, 64.110, 64.104, 64.105, 64.127 (all years) and 64.101 burial allowance (FY2023 and earlier only). State = place of performance, else recipient state, of the county-aggregated benefit rows.
Caveat: Obligations are recorded when monthly benefit batches are certified; expenditures when paid. Retroactive awards and one-time payments can land in different fiscal years on the two sides.

Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment

Compared

GDX definition: GI Bill programs (Chapters 30, 32, 33, 35, 1606, 1607, VRRAP), Veteran Readiness & Employment (Chapter 31), and — through FY2023 inside this column — Specially Adapted Housing and Automobiles & Adaptive Equipment. From FY2024 VA splits these into separate columns; this page sums them back so the series stays like-for-like.
GDX places it by: Beneficiary's residence (county of the recipient).
GDX source: FY2008–FY2023: USAspending.gov (plus FMS for non-beneficiary items), per the GDX data guide · FY2024+: VBA PA&I, county-level payment data
USAspending side: Assistance listings 64.028, 64.117, 64.116, 64.124, 64.120, 64.032, 64.130, 64.100, 64.106, 64.128. State = place of performance, else recipient state.
Caveat: GDX through FY2023 also included FMS-only items (contract counseling, State Approving Agencies) with no per-beneficiary USAspending row. Education benefits paid to schools are reported by the student's residence on one side and can follow the school on the other.

Insurance & Indemnities

Compared

GDX definition: Death claims, matured endowments, dividends, cash surrenders and disability-income payments on VA-administered life insurance (NSLI, USGLI, SDVI, VRI, VSLI, VMLI, VALife). Excludes SGLI, FSGLI and TSGLI.
GDX places it by: Payee's residence. FY2024+: payment records linked by SSN to VA's USVETS file, else by ZIP code (VA notes more than half of FY2024 records needed the ZIP fallback).
GDX source: FY2008–FY2022: VA Regional Office & Insurance Center (RO&IC), Philadelphia · FY2023: USAspending.gov, per the FY2023 GDX data guide · FY2024+: Insurance Service Office of Budget and Oversight (payment records with SSN/address)
USAspending side: Assistance listing 64.031 (direct payments for insurance). 64.030 (face amount of new policies issued) is excluded: it is insurance written, not money paid.
Caveat: Dividends and policy loans are handled through the insurance trust funds; timing and netting of repayments differ between the two sources.

Construction

Partly comparable — directional

GDX definition: Major and minor construction projects; through FY2023 also grants for construction of State extended-care facilities and State veterans cemeteries.
GDX places it by: Place of performance (VA facility / project location).
GDX source: FY2008–FY2023: VA Financial Management System (FMS) / iFAMS · FY2024+: VA Office of Construction & Facilities Management (CFM), by station
USAspending side: Contracts whose Product/Service Code starts with Y (construction of structures and facilities), by primary place of performance; plus, for FY2023 and earlier, assistance listings 64.005 (State home construction grants) and 64.203 (State cemetery grants).
Caveat: Construction is multi-year: a project is obligated up front and spent over several years, so single-year ratios swing widely. The funding account is not in the public award file, so Y-coded work paid from the Medical Facilities (non-recurring maintenance) account cannot be separated from Major/Minor Construction, and minor projects coded as repair/alteration (Z) are not captured. Read as directional only.

Medical Care

Not compared

GDX definition: Medical care, medical and prosthetic research, General Post Fund and miscellaneous medical accounts, including the cost of operating VA's own facilities (staff payroll, supplies, overhead). From FY2025 split into Medical–VA Care and Medical–Community Care; summed here.
GDX places it by: Patient's home residence, not the site of care (research is booked to the facility performing it).
GDX source: FY2008+: VHA Allocation Resource Center (ARC) and FMS
USAspending side: Not compared.
Why not compared: Most of VA medical spending is the payroll and operating cost of VA hospitals and clinics, which is not an award and never appears on USAspending. VHA's cost-of-care assistance listings (64.009–64.050) are reported inconsistently from year to year, and contract place of performance follows the facility rather than the patient's home.

General Operating Expenses

Not compared

GDX definition: Administration and oversight of VA benefits (overhead and human resources). Not published from FY2024.
GDX places it by: Where the cost is booked in FMS/iFAMS — headquarters costs concentrate in the District of Columbia.
GDX source: FY2008–FY2023: FMS / iFAMS
USAspending side: Not compared.
Why not compared: Mostly salaries and overhead with no award record; the contract share that does exist is booked to the buying office, not to a beneficiary geography.

Loan Guaranty

Not compared

GDX definition: Housing loan guaranty and direct loan programs. Through FY2023 VA attributes ALL loan guaranty expenditures to Travis County, Texas, where payments are processed; from FY2024 by county, as net loss (positive) or net gain (negative) to VA.
GDX places it by: Through FY2023: Travis County, TX (processing location). FY2024+: county of the loan.
GDX source: FY2008+: FMS (through FY2023); VBA PA&I (FY2024+)
USAspending side: Not compared.
Why not compared: USAspending records guaranteed loans by face value with zero federal obligation per loan; the budgetary cost (subsidy and claims) is not in the award file.

Memorial Benefits

Not compared

GDX definition: New from FY2024: NCA interments, headstones and markers, medallions, Presidential Memorial Certificates, NCA administration, State cemetery grants (FY2025) and VBA burial benefits.
GDX places it by: Place of performance (NCA) and county of the beneficiary (VBA burial).
GDX source: FY2024+: NCA Office of Finance Service; VBA PA&I
USAspending side: Not compared.
Why not compared: Mostly National Cemetery Administration operating cost with no award record; only the burial-allowance and grant pieces appear on USAspending.

4 · Crosswalk

Every USAspending program mapped to a GDX category

Derived from the Assistance Listing titles present in VA's USAspending files and GDX's category definitions. Money = sum of each transaction's federal action obligation, grouped by the fiscal year of the action date.

GDX category	Source	Code	Program	Years	State taken from
Compensation & Pension	Assistance listing	64.109	Veterans Compensation for Service-Connected Disability	all	place of performance state, else recipient state (county-aggregated benefit rows carry the beneficiaries' county)
Compensation & Pension	Assistance listing	64.110	Veterans Dependency and Indemnity Compensation for Service-Connected Death	all	place of performance state, else recipient state (county-aggregated benefit rows carry the beneficiaries' county)
Compensation & Pension	Assistance listing	64.104	Pension for Non-Service-Connected Disability for Veterans	all	place of performance state, else recipient state (county-aggregated benefit rows carry the beneficiaries' county)
Compensation & Pension	Assistance listing	64.105	Pension to Veterans Surviving Spouses, and Children	all	place of performance state, else recipient state (county-aggregated benefit rows carry the beneficiaries' county)
Compensation & Pension	Assistance listing	64.127	Monthly Allowance for Children of Vietnam Veterans Born with Spina Bifida	all	place of performance state, else recipient state (county-aggregated benefit rows carry the beneficiaries' county)
Compensation & Pension	Assistance listing	64.101	Burial Expenses Allowance for Veterans From FY2024 GDX moves burial to Memorial Benefits (not compared).	to FY2023	place of performance state, else recipient state (county-aggregated benefit rows carry the beneficiaries' county)
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment	Assistance listing	64.028	Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance	all	place of performance state, else recipient state (county-aggregated benefit rows carry the beneficiaries' county)
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment	Assistance listing	64.117	Survivors and Dependents Educational Assistance	all	place of performance state, else recipient state (county-aggregated benefit rows carry the beneficiaries' county)
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment	Assistance listing	64.116	Vocational Rehabilitation for Disabled Veterans	all	place of performance state, else recipient state (county-aggregated benefit rows carry the beneficiaries' county)
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment	Assistance listing	64.124	All-Volunteer Force Educational Assistance (Montgomery GI Bill)	all	place of performance state, else recipient state (county-aggregated benefit rows carry the beneficiaries' county)
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment	Assistance listing	64.120	Post-Vietnam Era Veterans' Educational Assistance	all	place of performance state, else recipient state (county-aggregated benefit rows carry the beneficiaries' county)
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment	Assistance listing	64.032	Montgomery GI Bill Selected Reserve; Reserve Educational Assistance Program	all	place of performance state, else recipient state (county-aggregated benefit rows carry the beneficiaries' county)
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment	Assistance listing	64.130	Veteran Rapid Retraining Assistance Program	all	place of performance state, else recipient state (county-aggregated benefit rows carry the beneficiaries' county)
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment	Assistance listing	64.100	Automobiles and Adaptive Equipment for Certain Disabled Veterans	all	place of performance state, else recipient state (county-aggregated benefit rows carry the beneficiaries' county)
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment	Assistance listing	64.106	Specially Adapted Housing for Disabled Veterans	all	place of performance state, else recipient state (county-aggregated benefit rows carry the beneficiaries' county)
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment	Assistance listing	64.128	Vocational Training and Rehabilitation for Vietnam Veterans' Children with Spina Bifida	all	place of performance state, else recipient state (county-aggregated benefit rows carry the beneficiaries' county)
Insurance & Indemnities	Assistance listing	64.031	Life Insurance for Veterans — Direct Payments for Insurance	all	place of performance state, else recipient state (county-aggregated benefit rows carry the beneficiaries' county)
Construction	Contract PSC	Y***	Contracts, PSC Y — Construction of structures and facilities	all	primary place of performance state (matches GDX's project-location rule)
Construction	Assistance listing	64.005	Grants to States for Construction of State Home Facilities GDX dropped construction grants from Construction in FY2024.	to FY2023	place of performance state, else recipient state (county-aggregated benefit rows carry the beneficiaries' county)
Construction	Assistance listing	64.203	Veterans Cemetery Grants Program GDX FY2025 counts State cemetery grants under Memorial Benefits.	to FY2023	place of performance state, else recipient state (county-aggregated benefit rows carry the beneficiaries' county)

Deliberately not mapped

64.030 Life Insurance for Veterans — Face Amount of New Policies Issued — Insurance written (a contingent liability), not money paid.
64.114 · 64.118 · 64.126 Housing loan guaranty and direct loan programs — Recorded by loan face value with $0 federal obligation; GDX Loan Guaranty is not compared.
64.009–64.050 VHA cost-of-care listings (Purchase Care, prescriptions, inpatient, outpatient, CHAMPVA, State home per diem, …) — Part of GDX Medical Care, which is not compared (see Medical Care).
64.024 · 64.033 · 64.055 · 64.056 and other VHA grants Homeless, SSVF, suicide-prevention and legal-services grants — Funded from medical appropriations; GDX Medical Care is not compared.
64.201–64.206 NCA burial receptacle, casket/urn and cemetery programs — Memorial Benefits (FY2024+) is not compared; before FY2024 GDX did not publish these separately.

5 · Tolerance band

When a difference is listed as a variance to review

For each category and year, the coverage ratio (USAspending ÷ GDX) is computed for every compared state with at least $1M of GDX expenditure. The band is Tukey's fences on the natural log of those ratios — exp(Q1 − 1.5·IQR) to exp(Q3 + 1.5·IQR) — the standard rule for values that sit apart from the rest of a distribution. Logs make "twice" and "half" equally far from the median. A state is listed only when its ratio is outside the band and also at least 5 points from the median and $1M in dollars; a band needs at least 10 states. Because the band moves with all states, a definitional difference that affects every state (for example FMS-only items in GDX) shows up in the national ratio and flags no one. Evidence strength for each variance uses the site-wide formula (distance beyond the fence ÷ the band's log-IQR), discounted for Construction (multi-year obligations) and for cells with deobligations.

Category	FY	States	Q1	Median	Q3	Band	National ratio
Construction	FY2012	45	51.2%	94.4%	243.7%	4.9%–2528%	117.7%
Construction	FY2013	46	64.6%	156.8%	315.5%	6.0%–3404%	129.1%
Construction	FY2014	41	49.8%	134.8%	301.1%	3.4%–4473%	101.1%
Construction	FY2015	46	50.2%	128.0%	234.6%	5.0%–2370%	68.4%
Construction	FY2016	47	37.5%	111.4%	204.7%	2.9%–2607%	81.4%
Construction	FY2017	45	31.3%	82.0%	156.6%	2.8%–1756%	65.0%
Construction	FY2018	45	47.1%	143.7%	222.4%	4.6%–2280%	118.9%
Construction	FY2019	41	101.3%	217.5%	542.2%	8.2%–6711%	136.3%
Construction	FY2020	46	42.6%	96.8%	259.1%	2.8%–3883%	74.3%
Construction	FY2021	47	78.6%	138.9%	364.9%	7.9%–3651%	96.9%
Construction	FY2022	44	41.1%	107.3%	233.6%	3.0%–3163%	113.0%
Construction	FY2023	31	480.2%	752.7%	1436%	92.9%–7424%	47.2%
Construction	FY2024	47	75.5%	185.0%	428.7%	5.6%–5801%	120.3%
Construction	FY2025	50	51.0%	147.6%	335.8%	3.0%–5675%	94.7%
Compensation & Pension	FY2012	53	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%–100.0%	100.8%
Compensation & Pension	FY2013	53	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%–100.0%	100.8%
Compensation & Pension	FY2014	53	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%–100.0%	100.8%
Compensation & Pension	FY2015	53	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%–100.0%	100.8%
Compensation & Pension	FY2016	53	115.1%	115.2%	115.2%	115.0%–115.4%	116.1%
Compensation & Pension	FY2017	53	114.3%	114.5%	114.5%	114.0%–114.9%	114.8%
Compensation & Pension	FY2018	53	100.1%	100.3%	100.6%	99.4%–101.3%	100.3%
Compensation & Pension	FY2019	53	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%–100.1%	100.0%
Compensation & Pension	FY2020	53	100.8%	101.0%	101.4%	100.0%–102.2%	101.4%
Compensation & Pension	FY2021	53	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%–100.1%	100.0%
Compensation & Pension	FY2022	53	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%–100.1%	100.0%
Compensation & Pension	FY2023	53	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%–100.0%	100.0%
Compensation & Pension	FY2024	53	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%–100.0%	100.0%
Compensation & Pension	FY2025	53	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%–100.0%	100.0%
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment	FY2012	53	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%–100.0%	101.0%
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment	FY2013	53	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%–100.0%	101.0%
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment	FY2014	53	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%–100.0%	100.9%
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment	FY2015	53	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%–100.0%	100.9%
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment	FY2016	53	100.0%	100.0%	100.1%	99.9%–100.2%	101.2%
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment	FY2017	53	103.1%	103.1%	103.1%	103.1%–103.1%	103.4%
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment	FY2018	53	101.1%	103.4%	107.0%	92.8%–116.5%	102.4%
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment	FY2019	53	99.7%	99.8%	99.9%	99.4%–100.2%	99.8%
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment	FY2020	53	101.1%	101.7%	102.2%	99.5%–103.9%	101.6%
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment	FY2021	53	99.6%	99.8%	99.9%	99.3%–100.2%	99.8%
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment	FY2022	53	101.4%	102.8%	104.0%	97.6%–108.0%	102.7%
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment	FY2023	53	93.4%	95.7%	97.1%	88.0%–103.0%	95.6%
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment	FY2024	53	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%–100.0%	100.0%
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment	FY2025	53	100.1%	100.2%	100.3%	99.8%–100.6%	100.2%
Insurance & Indemnities	FY2012	52	81.2%	90.5%	95.2%	64.0%–120.8%	89.8%
Insurance & Indemnities	FY2013	52	79.0%	86.4%	91.6%	63.3%–114.3%	85.8%
Insurance & Indemnities	FY2014	52	76.9%	83.0%	89.1%	61.7%–111.2%	83.7%
Insurance & Indemnities	FY2015	52	74.3%	83.0%	87.4%	58.1%–111.7%	81.6%
Insurance & Indemnities	FY2016	52	75.4%	82.6%	86.5%	61.4%–106.3%	80.9%
Insurance & Indemnities	FY2017	52	69.3%	75.9%	79.8%	56.0%–98.7%	75.2%
Insurance & Indemnities	FY2018	52	76.4%	81.9%	86.2%	63.7%–103.4%	81.9%
Insurance & Indemnities	FY2019	52	75.5%	82.1%	87.4%	60.6%–109.0%	81.0%
Insurance & Indemnities	FY2020	52	74.5%	81.5%	88.2%	57.9%–113.6%	81.1%
Insurance & Indemnities	FY2021	52	77.4%	83.8%	88.2%	63.5%–107.4%	83.2%
Insurance & Indemnities	FY2022	52	100.2%	100.4%	100.9%	99.2%–101.9%	101.2%
Insurance & Indemnities	FY2023	50	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%–100.0%	100.4%
Insurance & Indemnities	FY2024	43	104.8%	106.1%	113.1%	93.5%–126.8%	103.3%
Insurance & Indemnities	FY2025	49	102.4%	103.2%	104.9%	98.9%–108.6%	103.7%

6 · A national observation

Reporting timing on USAspending: FY2016–FY2017 compensation

In the other compared years the USAspending and GDX national totals for Compensation & Pension agree within 1.4%. In FY2016 and FY2017 USAspending is 16% and 15% higher respectively, in every state alike, so no state is flagged — the band moves with them. The monthly USAspending rows show why: some months carry roughly twice the typical monthly amount and others almost none, while the number of county rows stays roughly constant. That pattern moves obligations between months and years; it does not by itself change what was paid.

FY2016 disability compensation & pension, USAspending by month

3 months ≥ 1.5× median · 0 months ≤ 0.5× median

FY2017 disability compensation & pension, USAspending by month

4 months ≥ 1.5× median · 2 months ≤ 0.5× median

For contrast: FY2023, when the two sources agree

7 · Caveats

Known reasons two correct sources differ

These are attached to every variance as the benign explanation that best fits it.

GDX reports expenditures (money spent); USAspending reports obligations (commitments). Money obligated late in one fiscal year is often paid in the next, so single-year ratios drift even when both sources are correct.
Construction and other multi-year awards are obligated up front and spent over several years: a state with a large new project shows USAspending well above GDX in the award year and below it later.
The sources place dollars differently: GDX follows the beneficiary's residence or the project site; USAspending follows the reported place of performance or the recipient's address.
National and headquarters contracts are often performed or booked in the District of Columbia and Virginia, and GDX through FY2023 attributed all Loan Guaranty to Travis County, Texas.
Benefit payments to individuals appear on USAspending as county-level aggregate rows ("MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS"); a county assigned to a different state, or rows without a state, move money between states.
USAspending records corrections, deobligations and prior-year adjustments on the date they are entered, so a fiscal year can include changes to earlier years' awards.
Some months on USAspending carry two monthly benefit batches and others none (for example FY2016–FY2017 compensation), which moves obligations between fiscal years without changing what was paid.
Glassbox VA compares a fiscal year only after all 12 months of USAspending transactions are loaded; years still loading are shown as not compared rather than as gaps.
For FY2012–FY2023 VA states that GDX Compensation & Pension and E&VRE (and FY2023 Insurance) were taken from USAspending.gov, so agreement is expected; a variance points to a later revision or a state-assignment difference.
GDX publishes veteran population and unique patients; per-veteran figures are not shown because VA advises against dividing these categories by veteran population.
County and congressional-district sheets are published by VA but not loaded: the comparison is state-level, the finest level at which both sources can be matched without re-geocoding.

8 · In VA's words · FY2025

Definitions and notes from the GDX workbook

Show 20 notes as published

Data Guide: GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF VA EXPENDITURES (GDX) FY2025
Data Guide: Prepared by the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, September 2026
Data Guide: Please direct any questions to vancvas@va.gov
Data Guide: To cite GDX, please use "Geographic Distribution of VA Expenditures for Fiscal Year 2025, the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, Department of Veterans Affairs"
Data Guide: Direct Expenditures — Compensation & Pension — The Compensation and Pension (C&P) category includes expenditures for the following categories: Veterans disability compensation and Veterans pension payments. Expenditure data by county are provided by VBA Office of Performance Analysis & Integrity (PA&I).
Data Guide: Dependency & Indemnity Compensation and Survivors Pension — The Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) and Survivors Pension category includes expenditures for DIC and Survivors Pension, and benefits for children of Vietnam Veterans and certain other Veterans (including those children born with spina bifida). Expenditure data by county comes from VBA PA&I.
Data Guide: Insurance — The Insurance category includes VA expenditures for death claims, matured endowments, dividends, cash surrender payments, total disability income provision payments, and total and permanent disability benefits payments. It includes Veterans Affairs Life Insurance (VALife), Veterans' Mortgage Life Insurance (VMLI), National Service Life Insurance (NSLI), Service Disabled Veterans Life Insurance (SDVI), United States Government Life Insurance (USGLI), Veterans Reopened Insurance (VRI), and Veterans Special Life Insurance (VSLI). It does not include Traumatic Injury Protection Under Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance, Family Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance, or Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance. Expenditure data comes from the Insurance office of Budget and Oversight.
Data Guide: Specially Adapted Housing — The Specially Adapted Housing category includes expenditures for Specially Adapted Housing (Chapter 21) and Special Housing Adaptation. Expenditure data comes from VBA PA&I at the county level. Note: In 2024, these expenditures were included in the Indirect Expenditure category called Specially Adapted Housing and Automobiles and Adaptive Equipment.
Data Guide: Indirect Expenditures — Automobiles and Adaptive Equipment — The Automobiles and Adaptive Equipment category includes expenditures for Automobiles and Adaptive Equipment (chapter 39). Expenditure data comes from VBA PA&I at the county level. Note: In 2024, these expenditures were included with the Specially Adapted Housing expenditures.
Data Guide: Construction — The Construction category includes expenditures for Major Projects and Minor Projects. Expenditure data by place of performance (station numbers and facility names) come from the VA Office of Construction and Facilities Management (CFM).
Data Guide: Education — The Education category includes expenditures for Post-Vietnam Era Veterans’ Educational Assistance (Chapter 32), Montgomery G.I. Bill for Selected Reserves (Chapter 1606), Montgomery G.I. Bill (Chapter 30), and Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance (Chapter 33), Veterans Rapid Assistance Retraining Program (VRRAP), and Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance (Ch35). Expenditure data by county comes from VBA PA&I. Note: In 2024, Education expenditures were grouped with the Veteran Readiness & Employment category.
Data Guide: Loan Guaranty — The Loan Guaranty category includes expenditures for Veterans Housing Guaranteed and Insured Loans, Veterans Housing Direct Loans for Certain Disabled Veterans, and the Native American Veteran Direct Loan Program. Negative expenditures represent amounts "net gain" to VA; positive expenditures represent "net loss" to VA. Large differences between 2024 and 2025 expenditures were attributed to the VA Service Purchase Program (VASP) implemented in 2025. The Loan Guaranty expenditure data by county comes from VBA PA&I.
Data Guide: Medical-Community Care — The Medical-Community Care category includes expenditures associated healthcare services occurred outside of VA facilities, private/community settings. Medical Community Care expenditure data by county and congressional district comes from VHA Allocation Resources Center (ARC).
Data Guide: Medical-VA Care — The Medical-VA Care category includes expenditures associated with healthcare services incurred directly at VA owned facilities. Medical VA Care expenditures data come from both the Allocation Resource Center (ARC) and the Financial Management System (FMS). Medical VA Care expenditure data by county and congressional district comes from VHA Allocation Resources Center (ARC). Expenditure data for medical research, canteen services, and prosthetics services come from FMS.
Data Guide: Memorial Benefits — The Memorial Benefits category includes expenditures for urns & plaques, presidential memorial certificates (PMCs), interments, headstones and markers, medallions, administratives, grants money for state owned cemeteries, and VBA burial benefits. Expenditure data by zip codes comes from the NCA Office of Finance Service; expenditure data by county comes from VBA PA&I.
Data Guide: Veteran Readiness & Employment — The Veteran Readiness & Employment (VRE) category includes expenditures for Veteran Readiness & Employment (Chapter 31) for Veterans with service-connected disabilities. Expenditure data by county comes from VBA PA&I. Note: In 2024, VRE expenditures were grouped with Education Expenditures.
State Direct Exp: Other US Territories include American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands and US Virgin Islands. They were not identified in previous GDX. US Virgin Islands did not have an expenditure data in FY2025.
State Direct Exp: Freely Associated States (FAS) include the Marshall Islands, Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia. They were not identified in previous GDX. Micronesia did not have any expenditure data in FY2025.
State Indirect Exp: Other US Territories include American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands and US Virgin Islands. They were not identified in previous GDX. US Virgin Islands did not have an expenditure data in FY2025.
State Indirect Exp: Freely Associated States (FAS) include the Marshall Islands, Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia. They were not identified in previous GDX. Micronesia did not have any expenditure data in FY2025.

9 · Map

Geometry

State outlines: us-atlas 3.0.1 states-albers-10m.json (U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundaries, Albers USA projection, 975×610). Licence: ISC — Copyright 2013-2019 Michael Bostock; underlying Census Bureau data are public domain. Converted to SVG paths by npm run va:gdx -- --geo. Puerto Rico and Guam are shown as tiles.

Everything on these pages is reproducible: npm run va:gdx downloads the workbooks, rebuilds the comparison from the loaded USAspending transactions and logs the run. Rules live in one file (src/lib/va/gdx-crosswalk.ts). Figures are shown rounded ($1.2B, $340M); the database keeps dollars and cents.

← Back to the map

← Geography

Source: VA NCVAS GDX FY2012–FY2025 · USAspending.gov (VA, agency 036)