The chart provides an overview of U.S. federal defense spending by category from 2020 to 2025, revealing the dominant role of personnel and operational costs. Military personnel costs account for the largest share of spending at 36%, followed by operations and maintenance at 28%. These two categories combined represent nearly two-thirds of the total defense budget. Procurement accounts for 23%, with research, development, testing, and evaluation at 14%. The smallest share is military construction at 7%. This data illustrates that a majority of the defense budget is allocated to personnel and maintaining existing forces.
