Understanding CFDA Numbers: How Federal Assistance Programs Are Classified
March 4, 2026
If you've spent any time browsing federal spending data, you've seen five-digit numbers like 10.069 or 10.912 attached to assistance programs. These are CFDA numbers — and understanding them unlocks a lot of context about what you're looking at.
What CFDA stands for
CFDA stands for the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance, a government-wide registry of federal assistance programs. Each program gets a unique identifier in the format XX.YYY, where the first two digits represent the issuing agency and the last three distinguish the specific program.
USDA's prefix is 10
All USDA programs begin with 10. So any CFDA number starting with 10 in SubsidyLookup is a USDA program. The suffix distinguishes programs: 10.069 is CRP, 10.912 is EQIP, 10.170 covers ARC and PLC, and so on.
Why the same CFDA can cover multiple programs
Congress sometimes authorizes multiple program types under a single CFDA umbrella. CFDA 10.170 ("Direct and Counter-Cyclical Payments") historically covered several commodity program structures. This means you may see a single CFDA number representing somewhat different payment mechanisms across different fiscal years.
How to browse by program in SubsidyLookup
The program index lists every CFDA program present in our dataset, sorted by total dollars. Clicking a program shows its description, total payments, year-by-year trend, and a breakdown by state. You can also combine a program filter with a state or county to narrow to a specific geography — for example, CRP payments in Nebraska or EQIP payments in California.