Budget Season Coming to a Close: A Look Back at State-Level Spending
The close of the 2026 fiscal year means states are wrapped up in transitioning to new budgets for FY2027.
While enacted budgets can show the intentions of state legislators and governors, actual spending amounts demonstrate how a state is operating. A few states publish up-to-date spending on online dashboards, but most will not release FY2026 expenditure data until after FY2027 budgets are already in effect. This map highlights the year-over-year change in total state spending (including federal funds) during FY2025, illustrating the wide variation in fiscal trends across the country. The biggest swings during the fiscal year came from Hawaii (-16%), Colorado (-15%) and Delaware (-14%) experiencing the biggest drops in spending, and Idaho and Oklahoma increasing their spending more than other states (+16%). Arizona is marked “no data” due to incomplete 2025 budget reporting.
This data is updated as of July 8, 2026
