Medicaid Spending Explorer

What it shows

The explorer shows where Medicaid money goes, state by state. Selecting a state displays its total, its share of national spending, and how its spending divides by type of service.

Using it

You can select a state on the map or from the list to see its total, its share of the national figure, and its split across five categories. The menu colors the map by total spending or by any one category's share of a state's budget. Rhode Island, Delaware, and D.C. are difficult to click on a map, so the list includes them. The explorer also works from the keyboard, and a table of all 51 jurisdictions is one click away.

The colors are fifths, meaning the 51 jurisdictions are divided into five equal groups by whichever measure is selected. Spending ranges from $767.5 million in Wyoming to $150.4 billion in California, and on a linear scale almost every state would fall into the same color.

What stands out (FY 2024)

• Managed care makes up 53% of national Medicaid service spending and is the largest category in 36 of the 51 jurisdictions.
• Managed care is under 5% of spending in eight states (Alabama, Alaska, Connecticut, Maine, Montana, South Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming) and 93% in Iowa.
• California and New York together account for 26.8% of national spending, and the five largest states account for 41%.
• In North Dakota and New Hampshire, fee-for-service long-term care is the largest category, at 55% and 40%.

Where the data comes from

The figures come from KFF State Health Facts, "Distribution of Medicaid Spending by Service", for federal fiscal year 2024 (October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024). They are KFF estimates based on CMS Form 64 data as of September 2025, and I retrieved them on October 1, 2026. The data covers all 50 states and D.C. and leaves out administrative costs, accounting adjustments, and U.S. territories.

What to keep in mind

• The figures include adjustments to spending in earlier years, so some categories are negative; for example, five states report negative disproportionate share hospital payments in FY 2024. I show these values as reported and calculate no share for them.
• A low fee-for-service share usually means that care is paid through managed care plans and does not mean that the state spends less on it.

This is an independent project that uses public data only, and it is not affiliated with or endorsed by KFF or CMS.