Rankings · Programs
Federal Agencies with the Most Grant Programs
All federal agencies ranked by how many grant programs they administer, the biggest funders in the federal system.
- 77
- #1 · U.S. Department o…
- 24
- entries ranked
The verdict
U.S. Department of Education leads with 77, ahead of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (65); U.S. Department of State at 5 is #24, the current cutoff to make this list.
- 77
- #1 · U.S. Department of Education
- 24
- entries ranked by programs
- 5
- #24 cutoff to make this list
- 1.2×
- the #1 vs #2 gap
What this ranking tells you
The federal government distributes grants through dozens of agencies, but the volume is heavily concentrated. The Department of Education, HHS, and USDA collectively administer nearly half of all federal grant programs. Agencies with more programs are not necessarily spending more money, some agencies run many small programs while others run fewer but much larger ones. This ranking shows operational breadth: which agencies have the most diverse grant portfolios.
Top 10 by programs
The shape of the ranking at a glance.
The bar to make this list
This published top 24 has a current cutoff of 5: 22 entries sit above it and U.S. Department of State holds the final included place. These bands describe this ranking only, not every federal grant.
Programs distribution within this published ranking
Each band is measured against the #24 cutoff of 5
Entries grouped by multiples of the #24 programs cutoff
Each bar is a labelled band; taller bars hold more ranked entries. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source SAM.gov (System for Award Management) · 2026-08-10
Source: SAM.gov (System for Award Management). See our methodology.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which federal agency gives out the most grants?
By program count, the Department of Education, HHS, and USDA lead. However, by dollar volume, HHS (through Medicaid and <a href="https://grants.nih.gov/grants/oer.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener" class="text-[var(--color-accent-text,var(--color-accent))] hover:underline">NIH</a>) and the Department of Transportation (through infrastructure programs) are the largest. The ranking depends on whether you measure by number of programs or total funding.
Do agencies with more programs have more funding?
Not necessarily. Some agencies like the <a href="https://grants.nih.gov/grants/oer.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener" class="text-[var(--color-accent-text,var(--color-accent))] hover:underline">National Institutes of Health</a> have fewer programs but enormous budgets concentrated in research. Others like the Department of Education have many programs spread across different educational goals. Always check individual program funding levels rather than assuming agency size equals money available.
What to do next
U.S. Department of Education leads this programs ranking at 77 (1.2× #2).
- Open the #1 entry to see eligibility, deadlines, and source links before you compare the rest of the table. View #1
- #2 is U.S. Department of Health and Human Services at 65 - compare both before you anchor on a single winner. View #2
- 504 Assistance Listings and 82,290 Grants.gov rows sit in this extract, filter before you apply. National snapshot
Rankings use SAM.gov (System for Award Management) as of August 2026; verify live deadlines on Grants.gov before applying.
Explore More Rankings
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
According to the U.S. General Services Administration, the SAM.gov Assistance Listings catalog tracked 82,290 federal grant opportunities across 504 assistance programs and 24 federal agencies as of August 2026. See our methodology for how this data is sourced and verified.
Every figure on PlainGrants is rendered directly from SAM.gov Assistance Listings data, no number is typed in by an editor. This ranking draws directly on SAM.gov Assistance Listings data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, the data changelog, or report a data issue on this page.
| Publisher | PlainGrants |
| Sources | the SAM.gov Assistance Listings and Grants.gov |