Total government spending on the welfare state, including at the federal and state levels, amounted to about $3.4 trillion in 2023. That year, the federal government spent roughly $3.1 trillion on welfare and entitlement programs, an amount equal to approximately 50 percent of all federal outlays (an increase from approximately 45 percent in 2022). Nearly $2.3 trillion of federal expenditures went to Social Security and Medicare, and the other $823 billion funded means-tested welfare benefits. States spent an additional $301 billion on means-tested welfare programs.