In its own words: To promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense; and for other purposes.
The Treasury’s books put its net outlays at $9,948,878,991. Its own accounts, as it reported them to USAspending, show $10,153,840,633 in gross outlays: the difference is what its programs took back in and what it paid to other federal accounts, lines the Treasury’s breakdown below lists and subtracts.
Over time
Net outlays in each fiscal year, from the Treasury's September statements.
Net outlays by bureau and account, the same books as the total above. Open a line to see what is inside it. Lines in italics are subtracted: money the public paid back, and payments between federal accounts.
Research and Related Activities$7.74B77.8%
Education and Human Resources$1.41B14.2%
Other$823M8.3%
Proprietary Receipts from the PublicMoney the public paid back to these accounts, subtracted from the total-$21M
Its federal accounts
Each federal account is one pot of money Congress appropriates, and these are the 9 this agency paid out of, by gross outlays. Each opens on USAspending.gov, which lists its programs and awards.
Gross outlays by object class, grouped: what each dollar bought. $301k moved from its accounts to other federal accounts is left out; it is counted where it is finally paid.
$8.89B in contracts, grants, loans and direct payments committed in the year. Payments to individuals are published only as totals, so they have a place but no recipient.
Net outlays and the bureau breakdown are the Monthly Treasury Statement’s for September 2025, table 5. Everything else is what National Science Foundation reported to USAspending.gov for fiscal year 2025: its accounts, object classes and functions as gross outlays and obligations, and its contracts, grants, loans and direct payments as award obligations, by the place of performance. Awards are counted under the agency that made them.