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According to the Department of Defense's budget for Fiscal Year 2014, Virginia received the most spending at $54.7 billion. California received $52.5 billion, Texas received $39.6 billion, Maryland received $19.6, and Florida received $17.9 billion.
The top five for percentage of state GDP from military spending were Virginia at 11.8%, Hawaii at 9.9%, Alabama at 5.9%, DC at 5.8% and Alaska at 5.7% of GDP. At a measly 0.5% of state GDP, Oregon placed dead last.
That aligns with my guess that metro-DC has the greatest concentration of DOD spending. I'm a bit surprised Maryland isn't on the short list by percentage.
I would say that correlates very closely with the senior membership of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees and the House Ways and Means Committee.
That aligns with my guess that metro-DC has the greatest concentration of DOD spending. I'm a bit surprised Maryland isn't on the short list by percentage.
Does DC and NOVA have lots of industries that produce military equipment?
The BEA releases detailed numbers on metropolitan GDP, here are the largest for federal military expenditures:
$16,914m San Diego, CA
$12,894m Washington, DC-VA-MD
$12,443m Virginia Beach-Norfolk, VA
$5,659m Seattle-Tacoma, WA
$5,634m Fayetteville, NC
$5,550m Boston, MA-NH
$5,501m Honolulu, HI
$4,924m Kileen-Temple, TX
$4,880m Baltimore, MD
$4,375m Colorado Springs, CO
$4,323m Jacksonville, NC
$4,051m San Antonio, TX
$3,478m New York, NY-NJ-PA
$3,337m El Paso, TX
$3,287m Riverside-San Bernardino, CA
$3,227m Clarksville, TN-KY
$2,939m Watertown-Fort Drum, NY
$2,477m Crestview-Ft. Walton Beach-Destin, FL
$2,440m Philadelphia, PA
$2,433m Chicago, IL-IN
$2,424m Columbus, GA-AL
$2,135m Pensacola, FL
$2,076m Norwich-New London, CT
$2,018m Los Angeles, CA
$1,959m Jacksonville, FL
$1,909m Hinesville, GA
$1,887m Dayton, OH
$1,683m Richmond, VA
$1,649m Providence, RI-MA
$1,496m Tampa Bay, FL
$1,387m Anchorage, AL
$1,327m Las Vegas, NV
$1,267m Phoenix, AZ
$1,257m Bremerton, WA
$1,256m Vallejo-Fairfield, CA
$1,255m Lawton, OK
$1,251m Albuquerque, NM
$1,232m Augusta, GA-SC
$1,224m Charleston, SC
$1,221m St. Louis, MO-IL
$1,194m Tucson, AZ
$1,108m Salinas, CA
$1,106m Columbia, SC
$1,085m Kansas City, MO-KS
$1,059m Gulfport-Biloxi, MS
$1,049m Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
$1,028m Elizabethtown-Fort Knox, KY
$1,017m Miami, FL
$982m Montgomery, AL
$975m San Francisco, CA
$973m Hilton Head-Beaufort, SC
$927m Oklahoma City, OK
$921m Hanford-Corcoran, CA
$893m Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
$873m New Bern, NC
$872m Omaha, NE-IA
$860m Sierra Vista-Douglas, AZ
$842m Ogden-Clearfield, UT
$821m Detroit, MI
$817m Yuba City, AZ
$811m Fairbanks, AL
$767m Oxnard-Thousand Oaks, CA
$742m Houston, TX
$727m Little Rock, AR
$721m Atlanta, GA
$704m Shreveport, LA
$685m Sumter, SC
$627m Denver, CO
$624m Savannah, GA
$601m Bakersfield, CA
$598m Barnstable Town, MA
$580m California-Lexington Park, MD
$572m New Orleans, LA
$569m Cleveland, OH
$567m Worcester, MA
$566m Columbus, OH
$553m Corpus Christi, TX
$546m Springfield, MA
$529m Birmingham, AL
$522m Huntsville, AL
$519m Pittsburgh, PA
$497m Abilene, TX
$492m Dover, DE
$488m Indianapolis, IN
$477m Panama City, FL
$473m Valdosta, GA
$471m Portland, ME
$471m Wichita Falls, TX
$462m Cincinnati, OH
$454m Albany, NY
$444m Warner Robins, GA
$440m Harrisburg, PA
$439m Goldsboro, NC
$430m Sacramento, CA
$403m Salt Lake City, UT
California is a good bet talking strictly talking about the number of military personnel and facilities. There are 7 naval bases (including air bases), is home to a good part of the pacific fleet, and seal training is based in California. There is Edwards which gets a lot of planes and I'm sure a lot of other army and Air Force bases.
In terms of money Virginia does build most of the hugely expensive ships.
Where there is a top defense contractor like Boeing or Lockheed that is where the money is. 1 trillion dollars plus on the just ok JSF.
Metro-DC is #1 at feeding at the government trough. I doubt you'd find anywhere else with more per-capita DOD spending.
And it's cousin Virginia even more so due to it's larger geography along with maybe southern Maryland but Virgina by far the most. Do some research, its interesting.
That aligns with my guess that metro-DC has the greatest concentration of DOD spending. I'm a bit surprised Maryland isn't on the short list by percentage.
Per the list posted by ZachF, there's more spending per capita down in Hampton Roads (VB-Norfolk) than in the more populous metro DC area.
MD has a good deal of military, but also has a lot of non-DOD government as well as a strong private sector outside of contractors. For example, the Baltimore area is much less dependent on the DOD for its local economy than Hampton Roads.
Quote:
Originally Posted by eyeb
hawaii... there isnt much else there except tourists and tourism business
Also true of Hampton Roads, except that the tourists aren't around much this time of year.
Historically, without a doubt, California benefited more from military expenditure than any other state, particularly southern California - Los Angeles and San Diego - the Navy and Marines biggest bases are there. Without WWII and the Cold War California would never have been what it is.
Next, probably Virginia - Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Falls Church with Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Newport News shipyards, etc... and Maryland with Northup Grumman. The Washington D.C. area obviously benefits nicely being the HQ for the military and the nexus of the major defense tech contractors.
Seattle, WA with Boeing getting all those Air Force contracts has also benefited nicely.
I'd like to see numbers on which places benefit the most proportionally. My sense is that places like Wichita Falls, TX or Anchorage, AK owe much of their economy to defense. While the military is obviously important to places like San Diego and Seattle, they at least have stronger economies in general.
Last edited by redguard57; 12-14-2015 at 12:18 AM..
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