The Department of Defense Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation released its defense spending by state report on Sept. 26.

The report covers defense spending during fiscal year 2022, which ended Sept. 30, 2022.

This report is the first to incorporate DoD grant awards.

The report’s graphs, maps, and tables present a range of findings, such as total spending figures, categories of contracted goods and services, major defense vendors, numbers, and types of defense personnel, and, for the first time, grants awarded by DoD.

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“This snapshot provides public and private leaders with a starting place to assess how defense investments across installations, communities, and the private sector can be optimized by supporting regional innovation, industrial capability and capacity, supply chain resilience, and cultivating a skilled workforce,” according to DoD.

Defense spending during fiscal year 2022 fell as the federal government was reducing its response to COVID.

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DoD’s contract obligations and payroll spending that year decreased by $10.1 billion nationwide.

The department’s contract obligations, payroll spending and grant awards nationwide totaled $558.7 billion, which is 2.2 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

If the total spending were divided across every U.S. resident, it would amount to $1,679 per U.S. citizen. Of those funds, $389.5 billion, or 70 percent, were spent on contracts for products and services; $159.4 billion, or 28 percent,  paid the salaries of DoD personnel; and $9.7 billion or 2 percent, were awarded as grants, according to DoD.

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Montana ranks 48 among states in defense spending, with $700 million spent in the state, making up 1 percent of the state’s GDP and equates to $592 per resident, according to the report.

The DoD spent $416.2 million payroll for 8,706 total personnel in the state.

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The top defense payroll spending location is Cascade County with $267.9 million, followed by Lewis and Clark County with $69.4 million.

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Malmstrom Air Force Base and the 120th Airlift Wing of the Montana Air National Guard, as well as some Montana Army National Guard personnel are located in Great Falls.

The Montana National Guard is headquartered in Helena.

The DoD spent $67.8 million in Cascade County through defense contracts, followed by $48.6 million in Lake County.

S&K Aerospace is located in Lake County and is owned by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, which together were awarded $48.1 million in fiscal year 2022.

In Cascade County, James Talcott Construction was awarded $5.8 million in defense contracts that year and Wadsworth Builders was awarded $4.8 million in contracts.