Operation and maintenance has been the largest title every year since 1988

Source. OMB Historical Tables, FY2027 edition (April 2026), Table 3.2; Table 10.1; BEA population via FRED; CBO, The Demographic Outlook: 2026 to 2056 (January 2026), Figure 1. Fiscal years 1962–2025, with OMB estimates to 2031.

Method and data

Method. OMB Table 3.2, subfunction 051 (Military Personnel; Operation and Maintenance; Procurement; RDT&E; Military Construction and Family Housing; Other), 053 Atomic energy defense activities, 054 Defense-related activities. Per resident in fiscal 2025 dollars as in Exhibit 1; negative values are net receipts and are omitted from the bars. Table 3.2 gives no figures by title after FY2027. FY2027–2031 per resident: OMB’s estimates divided by the 2026 population (342,739 thousand, the January–August 2026 average of Census monthly population, as in Exhibit 1) grown at CBO’s projected rates for the Social Security area population (CBO, The Demographic Outlook: 2026 to 2056, January 2026, Figure 1: 0.253%, 0.259%, 0.275%, 0.29%, 0.3%); a calculation from published figures. Each rate is CBO’s growth over one calendar year, so the 2026 rate gives FY2027 and so on to the 2030 rate for FY2031, each year rounded to the thousand before the next is grown: 343,606, 344,496, 345,443, 346,445 and 347,484 thousand.

Fiscal year (2026–31 OMB estimates)	Personnel	O&M	Procurement	RDT&E	Construction	Other DoD	Atomic (053)	Related (054)
1962	711	505	633	275	70	−12	90	7
1963	689	503	705	270	72	−72	87	9
1964	720	493	634	290	65	−30	79	11
1965	719	495	475	250	63	−45	65	9
1966	777	571	556	243	74	−23	57	1
1967	855	708	708	267	75	−3	48	3
1968	895	733	830	276	63	66	48	8
1969	908	750	810	252	66	−60	47	11
1970	920	684	684	227	56	−33	45	5
1971	865	623	561	217	50	−11	41	0
1972	831	609	481	221	50	−11	39	4
1973	795	562	418	218	49	−39	38	6
1974	751	555	376	212	57	−28	37	0
1975	712	583	355	196	57	−24	33	3
1976	668	571	327	183	66	−12	32	3
1977	638	579	344	185	62	−7	37	3
1978	624	590	351	184	59	−12	36	3
1979	600	585	408	179	57	−5	41	3
1980	597	654	424	192	60	−15	42	3
1981	631	683	463	201	55	−8	45	3
1982	673	728	528	216	60	−1	53	4
1983	705	751	621	238	65	−14	60	4
1984	711	746	686	256	68	−19	68	5
1985	721	769	748	288	73	6	75	6
1986	737	775	788	333	81	21	77	5
1987	719	761	806	335	87	26	74	6
1988	732	809	740	333	86	2	76	5
1989	736	794	745	338	78	0	74	6
1990	658	769	705	326	75	−11	78	6
1991	692	844	680	287	56	−384	83	8
1992	648	734	598	277	60	−26	85	7
1993	585	724	539	285	62	−50	85	12
1994	545	654	460	259	62	20	88	9
1995	510	656	396	249	75	−17	85	7
1996	466	620	342	255	73	13	81	7
1997	473	627	324	251	69	8	76	7
1998	457	619	319	248	66	−14	75	8
1999	450	623	316	242	60	0	79	9
2000	476	663	324	236	53	9	76	7
2001	448	679	333	245	51	2	78	10
2002	513	768	369	262	52	−4	87	11
2003	613	870	390	305	55	−10	92	9
2004	631	967	424	338	57	9	92	15
2005	681	1,005	440	351	48	8	96	17
2006	654	1,045	460	352	51	−2	90	26
2007	630	1,071	492	361	56	1	84	28
2008	666	1,174	563	360	73	15	82	21
2009	693	1,220	608	372	96	7	83	32
2010	720	1,277	618	356	113	0	89	35
2011	727	1,310	576	337	105	−4	92	32
2012	668	1,238	547	309	74	19	84	34
2013	645	1,110	491	286	60	6	75	34
2014	620	1,018	448	270	47	4	73	34
2015	594	1,011	415	262	38	−19	76	35
2016	596	979	413	261	32	−5	78	35
2017	569	964	410	268	31	−4	81	37
2018	558	982	431	294	30	3	80	36
2019	584	1,015	466	334	32	12	85	35
2020	593	1,024	511	367	37	4	90	36
2021	612	1,015	501	375	38	4	91	37
2022	595	959	448	353	37	0	93	36
2023	574	991	443	381	37	−3	102	37
2024	579	1,002	459	416	41	−5	105	37
2025	604	1,001	474	414	44	3	107	33
2026	627	980	506	420	57	0	112	37
2027	652	1,143	639	663	65	17	117	42
2028							122	41
2029							124	42
2030							125	37
2031							125	34

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Higgins Strategy. “Operation and maintenance has been the largest title every year since 1988” Exhibit 6, Every Dollar of War (Study IX). October 12, 2026. https://higginsstrategy.com/charts/09-02-defence-by-subfunction-1962-2031/