Transportation Economic Trends
Government Transportation Revenues and Expenditures:
Government Transportation Revenues
Government transportation revenues come from several sources, including user fees, transportation related taxes, and general revenues. This revenue funds government transportation expenditures on critical activities, like building highways, operating the Nation’s air traffic control system, and maintaining transit facilities.
2020 Year-in-Review (latest available)
- In 2020 federal, state, and local revenues collected and dedicated to transportation programs totaled $367.5 billion (in 2020 dollars).
- Federal transportation revenues accounted for about one-quarter ($95.3 billion) of total transportation revenues collected in 2020. State and local government transportation revenues accounted for the remainder ($272.2 billion).
- 2020 marks the onset of the first COVID-19 emergency funding package, the CARES Act. For more information on COVID-19 transportation funds, visit COVID-19 Stimulus Funding for Transportation.
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics' Government Transportation Financial Statistics (GTFS) aggregates data from a variety of sources to provide information on transportation-related revenues for all levels of government and for all modes of transportation. Data are also available for government transportation expenditures.
Total Government Transportation Revenues | Own-Source and Supporting Transportation Revenues by Level of Government and Mode
Total Government Transportation Revenues
For reporting, government transportation revenue is classified into two categories:
1. Own-source revenue: taxes and charges levied on transportation-related activities and used specifically for transportation, for example motor fuel taxes.
2. Supporting revenue: funds collected from non-transportation-related activities but dedicated to support transportation programs, e.g., receipts received by state and local governments from sales or property taxes. It excludes funds raised from transportation-related activities but used to finance programs other than transportation.
Borrowing is not considered transportation revenue and is not included in the totals.
State and local government transportation revenue from all sources accounts for about three-quarters of total government transportation revenue. Federal transportation revenue from all sources accounts for the remaining quarter of total government transportation revenue.
Total Government Transportation Revenues | Own-Source and Supporting Transportation Revenues by Level of Government and Mode
Own-Source and Supporting Government Transportation Revenues by Level of Government
The following presents government transportation revenues collected, by mode, from
taxes and charges levied on transportation activities (own-source revenue) and funds collected from non-transportation activities but dedicated to transportation (supporting revenue).
The FAST Act (Pub.L.No.114-94) was signed into law on December 4, 2015. One provision of
that law was an immediate transfer of $51.9 billion from the General Fund to
the Highway Account of the Highway Trust Fund. This transfer is shown in our
Federal Supporting Revenue for 2016. For more information visit the FHWA Factsheet.
By Mode
Recommended citation
U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Transportation Economic Trends, available at www.bts.gov/product/transportation-economic-trends.
