State Funding Under the CARES Act

In this dashboard, we explore the distribution of $150 billion in federal aid under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Each state is allocated an amount proportional to its population size with at least $1.25 billion guaranteed regardless of population share. In addition, local governments with populations over 500,000 can also claim up to 45% of the amount allocated for their population, while the other 55% is retained by the state to serve that same population.

States that are a darker shade of blue indicate greater funding under the CARES Act compared to states with lighter shades of blue. In addition, if you click or hover over a particular state, you can see the breakdown of the total allocation according to the state’s share and local government’s share. Finally, on the right-hand side of the dashboard, there is an ordered list of the top 10 states receiving the most aid from the CARES Act.

Local Funding Under the CARES Act

In this dashboard, we analyze the distribution of federal aid under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act among Florida’s qualifying local governments. Only those local governments with populations over 500,000 are able to claim a portion of the aid allocated to the entire state of Florida. As such, only 12 counties in Florida are eligible for aid relief with most qualifying counties located in south and central Florida.

On the left of the dashboard, there are 12 circles of varying sizes corresponding to the 12 eligible counties in Florida. Circles that are larger indicate the county can apply for a larger amount of aid. Clicking on, or hovering over, the circle will reveal the county name and the estimated allocation to that local government. Finally, on the right side of the dashboard is an ordered list displaying the county allocation from greatest to least.


Editor’s Notes: Originally published as research by Florida TaxWatch