# Budget Functions The **budget functional classification** is the standardized ~20-category taxonomy the federal government uses to answer "what do we spend money on?" — independent of which agency does the spending. Each function has a three-digit code (e.g. 050 National Defense, 650 Social Security). It is the granular spine of the [[Budget Hub]]: every dollar of spending (see [[Outlays vs Budget Authority]]) maps to exactly one function, so the functions let you compare spending **by purpose** across years and administrations. ## The full table (FY2025 actual, cash basis) $ billions, from the Treasury Combined Statement. Sorted largest to smallest. Bold = has its own page. | Code | Function | FY2025 | FY2024 | |---|---|--:|--:| | 650 | **[[Social Security]]** | 1,580.7 | 1,460.9 | | 570 | **[[Medicare]]** | 996.7 | 874.1 | | 550 | Health (**[[Medicaid]]**, ACA, CHIP, NIH) | 978.9 | 911.7 | | 900 | **[[Net Interest on the Debt]]** | 970.4 | 881.0 | | 050 | **[[National Defense]]** (see also [[Defense Spending Landscape]]) | 916.6 | 874.0 | | 600 | **[[Income Security]]** (SNAP, UI, refundable credits, housing) | 701.6 | 671.1 | | 700 | **[[Veterans Benefits]]** and Services | 377.2 | 325.6 | | 400 | Transportation (highways, transit, FAA) | 145.8 | 137.1 | | 300 | Natural Resources & Environment (EPA, parks, NOAA) | 88.3 | 56.9 | | 750 | **[[Administration of Justice]]** (DOJ, courts, prisons, border) | 85.2 | 85.0 | | 450 | Community & Regional Development (FEMA, disaster aid) | 84.5 | 87.8 | | 500 | Education, Training, Employment & Social Services | 71.0 | 304.6 | | 350 | Agriculture (farm support, crop insurance) | 49.4 | 34.7 | | 150 | **[[International Affairs]]** (State, foreign aid, USAID legacy) | 45.2 | 56.4 | | 250 | General Science, Space & Technology (NASA, NSF) | 42.1 | 41.6 | | 800 | General Government (IRS ops, Treasury, GSA) | 34.5 | 29.7 | | 270 | Energy (DOE non-defense, strategic reserve) | 20.9 | 13.8 | | 370 | Commerce & Housing Credit (FHA, FDIC offsets) | −28.6 | 35.6 | | 950 | Undistributed Offsetting Receipts (offsets, not spending) | −150.2 | −146.7 | | — | **Total Outlays** | **7,010.0** | **6,734.9** | (Function **920 Allowances** is a budget-formulation placeholder with no actual outlays, so it does not appear in actuals. Function 200/350-range groupings vary slightly between OMB superfunctions and Treasury's presentation.) ## How to read it - The **top six** functions (Social Security, Medicare, Health, Net Interest, Defense, Income Security) are **~78% of all outlays**. Everything else — the entire "government" most people picture — fits in the bottom two-thirds of the list. - Year-over-year swings often reflect **accounting**, not policy: the −76.7% Education drop and the negative Commerce line in FY2025 are credit-reform reestimates and FDIC collections, not real spending changes. See [[Federal Budget FY2025]]. - Functions cut across agencies. Defense spending shows up in function 050 even when spent by Energy (nuclear weapons); interest spans the whole government. To map spending to *who* spends it, use the by-agency view instead. ## The RWKB angle The functional table is the single best antidote to budget rhetoric: it shows, in one view, that the spending denounced in political ads (foreign aid 150, "waste" in 800/general government) is a rounding error against the mandatory giants. See [[Discretionary vs Mandatory Spending]] for why the big ones are the hard ones to touch. ## Related - [[Budget Hub]] · [[Discretionary vs Mandatory Spending]] · [[Outlays vs Budget Authority]] - [[Social Security]] · [[Medicare]] · [[Medicaid]] · [[Net Interest on the Debt]] · [[Income Security]] · [[Veterans Benefits]] - [[Federal Budget FY2025]] · [[Federal Budget FY2024]]