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The Center for Community Solutions previously examined federal funds spent by counties, highlighting the critical role these funds play in county budgets. However, this only illustrated one way that federal funds flow through the state as this funding is present in many other places outside of the county budget process. To fully understand the extent of federal funding in the State of Ohio, the complete scope of its distribution needs to be considered. This includes funding to the state, counties, municipalities, nonprofit and for-profit entities, educational organizations including school districts, colleges, universities, and many others. Examining the entire picture of federal funding being spent in the state is necessary to be able to determine the scale of federal funding in Ohio and the impact of these dollars.
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When casting as wide a net as possible, during Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2021 the federal government spent $58 billion in Ohio.
Key findings
- In Federal Fiscal Year 2021, the federal government spent $58 billion on Ohio. This funding helps to support safety net programs such as SNAP and Head Start, but also to fund non-profits, higher education, and small businesses.
- The Department of Education was the top funder for Ohio, at $14 billion. Most of this money was allocated to school districts and higher education for emergency funding to assist during the pandemic. Excluding pandemic-related aid, Federal Pell Grants was the largest line item.
- Ohio Congressional District 6 (Southeast Ohio, Youngstown to Marietta) received the most amount of federal funding, at $6.4 billion. This district is also considered part of the central and eastern Appalachia region of Ohio. Some of the money awarded through ARPA dollars created the Appalachian Community Grant program. This district also received the majority of the funding allocated by the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees AmeriCorps.
- There are almost 114,000 federal employees that live in Ohio. Ohio’s Congressional District 10 has the largest federal workforce with almost 20,000 employees, likely due to the Wright Patterson Air Force Base.
- If all federal employees in Ohio lost their jobs, that rate would jump to 6.7 percent from the current rate of 4.8 percent. Including contractors, academic institutions, and other organizations that rely on federal funding to retain employees, this number could be much higher.
- Federal employees support the labor force in every congressional district in Ohio. In some districts, the unemployment rate would almost double if all federal employees were subject to governmental efficiency cuts. In Congressional District 11, the unemployment rate would be 12 percent.
If all federal employees in Ohio lost their jobs, that rate would jump to 6.7 percent from the current rate of 4.8 percent
Methodology
This work builds upon the previous research from The Center for Community Solutions completed at the county level. However, instead of just federal funding that is being dispersed by county governments, this analysis looks at all federal funding dispersed through all organizations by Ohio Congressional District. Congressional districts are the areas from which members are elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. They tend to be fairly equally populous and are determined by the decennial census population. Ohio’s Congressional Districts are drawn by the Ohio Redistricting Commission. The Commission is comprised of members of the Ohio House and Senate, along with other Ohio elected officials, such as the Governor. While each district has approximately the same population, the boundaries of the districts and concentration of populations are up to the discretion of those tasked with redistricting.
Instead of just federal funding that is being dispersed by county governments, this analysis looks at all federal funding dispersed through all organizations by Ohio Congressional District.
Several data sources were used for this analysis. The U.S. Census Bureau was used to get population estimates for per capita calculations and to examine federal employees by congressional district. USASpending.gov was used to examine federal funding for each congressional district, which has information on federal spending and awards through contracts, grants, and loans. Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2021 was used for this analysis. This year was the most recent year that all county financial audits were available. It is important to note that in 2021, funding from The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSA), and The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was still being dispersed.
While some federal awards were already sorted into Congressional Districts, most were not and were classified into one of two groups. The first group was multiple congressional districts, which was common for awards to counties that are split between two congressional districts or awards to projects that span numerous congressional districts. The other group was unclassified geography, which was common for funding awarded to the State of Ohio as the state has discretion in how this funding is distributed. To distribute funding without a dedicated congressional district a methodology was developed to first distribute federal funds by county and then into congressional districts. To distribute funding into counties, the county federal funding analysis was used to estimate the percentage of funds from each federal entity to go to each county. Then utilizing a methodology to sort county funding into congressional districts was used. Since congressional districts do not follow county lines Census Tracts were used to determine where people within the county are living to apportion the funding appropriately.
