Florida's state agencies, compared

Every agency in the state budget on the same yardstick: actual spending from FY2019 to FY2026, measured against Florida's own population growth and inflation, with federal money separated out.

Fiscal years FY2015–FY2026 (baseline FY2019); FY2027 in progress Agencies 32 (31 ranked) Published October 19, 2026

The table About this study

The state figure

$48.3 billion

in state agency spending excluding construction above the population-and-inflation baseline, Florida's state government, FY2020–FY2026. That is the sum, over seven years, of each year's spending minus what it would have been had FY2019 spending grown only with Florida's population and prices (CPI-U South). Federal money — pandemic relief, Medicaid matching funds, disaster aid — is inside that figure and is separated out in the tiles, because the state did not raise it.

$108.9B

State agency spending excluding construction, FY2026; at the baseline it would be $101.0B

+$41.2B

Of the cumulative figure, the part paid with federal money (estimated), FY2020–FY2026

+$7.1B

The part paid with state funds — General Revenue and state trust funds (estimated), FY2020–FY2026

13 · 5 · 13

Agencies above · in line with · below the baseline, FY2019–FY2026 (within five points, inclusive, counts as in line)

Figures are amounts spent as recorded on Transparency Florida, the Governor's budget-and-spending site, for the 31 agencies compared (Administered Funds, the statewide holding line, has its own page and is left out). “Spending excluding construction” is the amount spent in every appropriation category except fixed capital outlay (construction and land, appropriated in one year, spent over several and recorded against the year appropriated) and transfers to a state trust fund or the General Revenue Fund (dollars that appear again as spending when drawn from the receiving fund). The baseline describes the arithmetic, not what any agency could or should have done; this is an analysis of public records, not an examination of any agency's books, and it makes no recommendation.

What this is, and is not

An exercise in analysis and transparency. This study takes no position on state spending or on any agency's budget; it puts the public record in one place so that state officials and the voters who choose them can decide with all of the information in front of them.

Read the statement of intent, the sources and the method →

The statewide picture

State agency spending excluding construction rose from $69.63B in FY2019 to $108.91B in FY2026, 56.4%. Florida's population grew 11.9% and prices in the South region rose 29.7%; together they account for 45.1%, so FY2026 spending is above the baseline: $7.89B above the baseline in that year, and $48.26B above the baseline path over the seven years FY2020–FY2026 taken together.

Sum of the agencies on this page. The General Revenue / trust-fund split of spending is from the ledger pages; the federal share of trust funds is estimated by the rule on the about page.

“At the baseline” figures are what each amount would be if it had grown at exactly the population-and-inflation rate since FY2019; “cumulative” sums the yearly difference between the actual figure and that path. They describe the arithmetic, not what the state could or should have done. “Spending excluding construction” is the amount spent in every appropriation category except fixed capital outlay (construction and land, appropriated in one year, spent over several and recorded against the year appropriated) and transfers to a state trust fund or the General Revenue Fund (dollars that appear again as spending when drawn from the receiving fund).

Agencies against the baseline

13 of the 31 ranked agencies grew more than five points faster than population and inflation between FY2019 and FY2026; 13 grew more than five points slower; 5 were within five points either way.

Positive bars grew faster than population and inflation; negative bars grew slower. Administered Funds is not ranked.

The table

Ranked by growth above the baseline in percentage points. Click an agency for its page. A dagger marks an agency with a data note on FY2019 or FY2026. The state/federal columns take the General Revenue and trust-fund dollars from the ledger pages and estimate the federal share of trust funds.

Agency ($ millions)	Spending excluding construction, FY2019	FY2026	Growth FY2019–FY2026	vs. baseline 45.1% (pts)	Cumulative above (+)/below (−) baseline path, FY2020–FY2026	…of which state funds (est.)	…of which federal (est.)	Established positions vs. population (pts)	Budget not drawn in year, FY2026
Commerce†	859	1,890	+119.9%	+74.8	5,601	2,515	3,086	−11.0	19.6%
Law Enforcement	231	489	+111.6%	+66.5	343	253	90	−5.6	11.1%
Business and Professional Regulation	139	290	+108.3%	+63.2	−37	−38	1	−10.0	1.5%
Financial Services†	336	674	+100.8%	+55.7	472	476	−4	−10.3	8.2%
Veterans' Affairs	105	204	+95.1%	+50.0	102	−129	231	+7.7	8.3%
Persons with Disabilities†	664	1,249	+88.1%	+43.0	314	113	201	−11.6	42.4%
Health Care Administration	26,802	49,266	+83.8%	+38.7	23,570	1,103	22,468	−10.6	1.9%
Governor's Office†	1,437	2,547	+77.2%	+32.1	11,263	9,619	1,644	+8.1	11.7%
Offender Review	10	17	+71.8%	+26.7	5	6	−1	+12.4	0.3%
Revenue	536	839	+56.7%	+11.6	−27	149	−176	−15.5	1.4%
Corrections	2,494	3,854	+54.6%	+9.5	−168	−165	−4	−16.4	1.0%
Military Affairs†	77	119	+53.3%	+8.2	140	181	−41	−5.9	43.9%
Elder Affairs	278	423	+51.9%	+6.9	241	73	168	−7.3	2.5%
State Courts	529	772	+46.0%	+0.9	−63	−68	5	−2.6	0.9%
Fish and Wildlife	342	495	+44.5%	−0.6	−131	−112	−20	−10.0	12.1%
Children and Families	3,193	4,612	+44.4%	−0.7	2,238	2,255	−17	−7.9	1.4%
Justice Administration	897	1,288	+43.6%	−1.5	−375	−379	4	−11.9	0.1%
Agriculture	1,704	2,388	+40.1%	−5.0	−414	−307	−107	−7.3	24.8%
Legal Affairs	232	315	+35.5%	−9.5	−50	−30	−20	−2.7	0.2%
Education	21,696	29,303	+35.1%	−10.0	4,134	−9,630	13,764	−13.7	3.3%
Legislature†	169	228	+34.8%	−10.3	−54	−54	0	−10.8	70.7%
Juvenile Justice	546	732	+33.9%	−11.2	−652	−472	−181	−13.1	0.9%
Transportation†	747	997	+33.6%	−11.5	−666	−640	−26	−17.2	54.0%
Citrus	14	19	+33.4%	−11.7	8	13	−5	−43.6	0.0%
Highway Safety	472	622	+31.7%	−13.4	−341	−341	1	−17.6	0.7%
Environmental Protection†	401	522	+30.2%	−14.9	−349	−339	−10	−3.6	65.7%
Public Service Commission	24	31	+29.3%	−15.8	−25	−25	0	−11.5	0.0%
Management Services†	573	740	+29.3%	−15.8	−154	−165	11	−14.4	13.5%
Lottery	185	224	+21.1%	−24.0	−147	−147	0	−7.5	0.0%
Department of State	116	111	−4.3%	−49.4	−199	5	−204	−1.6	12.6%
Health†	3,818	3,650	−4.4%	−49.5	3,681	3,341	340	−18.8	6.7%

Not in the table: Administered Funds — Not an agency: statewide items (pay and benefit adjustments, risk management, reserves) appropriated here and moved to agencies by budget amendment during the year, so little is spent from this line directly.

Positions

Established positions across the agencies listed went from 114,933 in FY2019 to 114,181 in FY2026, against population growth of 11.9%.

Agency	Established, FY2019	Established, FY2026	Filled, FY2026	Vacant, FY2026	Growth FY2019–FY2026	Per 10,000 residents, FY2026
Corrections	24,552	23,438	22,416	1,022	−4.5%	9.9
Children and Families	12,042	12,520	11,227	1,293	+4.0%	5.3
Health	13,130	12,226	10,007	2,219	−6.9%	5.2
Justice Administration	10,452	10,448	9,280	1,168	0.0%	4.4
Transportation	6,236	5,907	5,489	418	−5.3%	2.5
Revenue	5,037	4,856	4,406	450	−3.6%	2.0
State Courts	4,302	4,702	4,497	205	+9.3%	2.0
Highway Safety	4,344	4,097	3,382	714	−5.7%	1.7
Agriculture	3,652	3,820	3,522	298	+4.6%	1.6
Juvenile Justice	3,270	3,230	2,874	356	−1.2%	1.4
Environmental Protection	2,888	3,126	2,910	216	+8.2%	1.3
Education	2,969	2,915	2,619	296	−1.8%	1.2
Persons with Disabilities	2,701	2,709	2,156	553	+0.3%	1.1
Financial Services	2,590	2,630	2,305	326	+1.6%	1.1
Fish and Wildlife	2,120	2,158	2,041	118	+1.8%	0.9
Law Enforcement	1,905	2,024	1,894	130	+6.2%	0.8
Legislature	1,717	1,735	1,496	239	+1.0%	0.7
Business and Professional Regulation	1,618	1,649	1,496	154	+1.9%	0.7
Health Care Administration	1,530	1,548	1,404	144	+1.2%	0.7
Veterans' Affairs	1,264	1,511	1,349	162	+19.6%	0.6
Commerce	1,475	1,488	1,202	286	+0.9%	0.6
Legal Affairs	1,302	1,422	1,254	169	+9.2%	0.6
Management Services	1,282	1,250	1,130	119	−2.5%	0.5
Governor's Office	431	517	425	92	+20.0%	0.2
Military Affairs	453	480	445	35	+6.0%	0.2
Department of State	408	450	397	53	+10.3%	0.2
Lottery	418	437	420	17	+4.4%	0.2
Elder Affairs	406	425	376	48	+4.6%	0.2
Public Service Commission	267	268	239	29	+0.4%	0.1
Offender Review	132	164	147	17	+24.2%	0.1
Citrus	41	28	24	4	−31.7%	0.0

What shapes these figures

Structural facts about how the state records its spending. The page draws no conclusion from them; they are the reading instructions.

Construction money is recorded in the year it was appropriated. Fixed capital outlay — roads, buildings, water projects — is appropriated in one year and spent over several. Transparency Florida records that spending against the year of the appropriation, so recent years look low for construction-heavy agencies (Transportation above all) until the money is spent. This page therefore compares spending excluding construction; fixed capital outlay is shown separately on each agency page ($11.35B statewide in FY2019, $7.22B so far against FY2026). Transfers to a state trust fund or the General Revenue Fund are also set aside, because the same dollars appear again as spending when drawn from the receiving fund: $575M in FY2019, $107M in FY2026, and $4.91B in FY2024, of which $4.45B was one item, the Department of Transportation's “Transfer to the State Transportaion Trust Fund” (the title as the site prints it).

Federal money is the larger part of the growth above the baseline. Spending from federal money (estimated by the fund rule) went from $25.55B in FY2019 to $43.11B in FY2026, its highest year — 68.7% growth against the 45.1% baseline, while spending from state funds went from $44.07B to $65.80B, 49.3%. Those dollars are inside every total on this page and are separated out as “federal (estimated)”; the state spent them but did not raise them, so a reader weighing state decisions can read the state-funds column.

The Agency for Health Care Administration is more than two-fifths of the total. The Agency for Health Care Administration — Medicaid, for the most part — spent $49.27B in FY2026 (spending excluding construction), 45% of the statewide figure, and that spending grew 83.8% between FY2019 and FY2026. By the fund rule used here, an estimated 62% of its FY2019 budget and 63% of its FY2026 budget was federal money. Its page shows the split by year.

Administered Funds is a holding line, not an agency. Statewide items — pay and benefit adjustments, risk-management premiums, reserves — are appropriated to Administered Funds and moved to the agencies by budget amendment during the year (the ledger pages name these amendments). In FY2026 it spent $46,177 of a $282M budget; the money appears in the agencies that received it. It has a page and is left out of the rankings.

“Operating budget” is the year's appropriations after amendments and reversions. Transparency Florida's operating budget for a closed year is the General Appropriations Act plus supplementals and budget amendments, less vetoes and the amounts that reverted at year-end. That is why, for many budget entities, spending equals the operating budget to the dollar: what was not spent has already been taken out. The gap that remains is authority still being spent in later years or never drawn; each agency page says which categories it sits in (construction, continuing appropriations and lump sums above all). The Legislature's recorded spending runs far below its budget in every year while its operating budget runs far above the appropriation enacted for it; its page says so and compares its series only with itself.

Operating budgets and the appropriations the Legislature enacted. The site's Ten-Year History gives the appropriations enacted for each year (the General Appropriations Act and other appropriation bills, net of vetoes): $89.53B for FY2019 and $122.52B for FY2025, the latest year it covers (the report's statewide totals; $17M and $18M of them are a statewide line for benefits that sits outside the 32 agencies on these pages), of which $13.45B and $23.89B was fixed capital outlay. The operating budgets these pages use — after budget amendments during the year and year-end reversions — were $83.49B and $131.03B: $6.04B below the enacted figure in FY2019 and $8.51B above it in FY2025. When the operating budget is below the enacted figure, authority that reverted unspent at year-end exceeded the money added by amendment; when it is above, the additions — money received during the year, federal grants and disaster money among it — exceeded reversions. The operating budget first exceeded the enacted figure in FY2021. Spending was $81.55B and $117.54B.

Names and codes. Agencies and budget entities are tracked by their appropriation codes, which outlast renamings: the Department of Economic Opportunity became the Department of Commerce in 2023 under the same code. Where a budget entity starts or ends inside the period, the agency's page says so in a data note.

The year in progress and the accounting cutover. FY2027 (July 2026 to June 2027) is in progress and is shown as budget only. The state is replacing its accounting system (FLAIR) with Florida PALM; the project's July 2026 steering-committee presentation places the Financials and Payroll implementation in January 2027. The first rebuild of this study after that cutover checks that the source pages still carry the same figures.

Sources and method

Transparency Florida — Operating budget and amount spent by agency and budget entity, each fiscal year FY2015–FY2027 — Executive Office of the Governor; updated nightly from FLAIR and LAS/PBS
Transparency Florida — State Positions summary by agency, each fiscal year
Transparency Florida — Ten-Year History of Appropriations (enacted appropriations by agency and program, operations and fixed capital outlay; the edition on the site covers FY2015-16 to FY2024-25)
Fiscal Analysis in Brief, Florida Legislature (each year FY2018-19 to FY2026-27) — appropriations by fund source and detail fund, used to classify trust funds as state or federal and to cross-foot totals — Office of Economic and Demographic Research
Florida Fiscal Portal — agency Legislative Budget Requests, Exhibit D-3A (fund-source split for mixed trust funds)
Florida Demographic Estimating Conference, June 22, 2026 — resident population, April 1 of each year
CPI-U, All Items, South region (BLS CUUR0300SA0), via FRED; July–June fiscal-year averages
State of Florida Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, FY2025 — statistical section, expenses by function (independent cross-check) — Department of Financial Services
Florida PALM Executive Steering Committee presentation, July 22, 2026 — implementation timeline — Department of Financial Services

Full method, checks and limits: About this study. Feedback is welcome by email at rob@beachsideautomation.com.