How Localities are Planning for the End of the American Rescue Plan Act

As the December 2026 State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) program spending deadline approaches, local governments should evaluate the long-term fiscal needs of their American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funded programs. The end of this large federal investment in local government signals a period of uncertainty as localities may need to address budget shortfalls. According to the 2025 State of the Cities Report, 69 percent of respondents indicated the end of ARPA funding will negatively impact their budget and city management. To find examples of how other localities are continuing projects with other funding sources after ARPA dollars are spent, local leaders can search the Local Government ARPA Investment Tracker.

This piece accompanies our latest update to the Local Government ARPA Investment Tracker, a joint project of Brookings Metro, the National League of Cities (NLC), and the National Association of Counties (NACo). Since 2021, we have monitored how the largest U.S. cities and counties have appropriated, obligated, and spent $65 billion in SLFRF allocations to foster an equitable economic recovery from COVID-19.

This update reflects data from 19,348 projects reported by 334 large local governments (92 cities and 242 counties) to the U.S. Department of the Treasury for program activities conducted through December 31st, 2024. All recipients have until the end of 2026 to spend their obligated funds. For more information about how data is collected and analyzed for this project, please visit the dashboard.

As of December 31, 2024, Tier 1 cities and counties have obligated 100% of their SLFRF allocations. This is a huge accomplishment and means large local governments will not face clawbacks due to missing the obligation deadline. Additionally, large cities and counties are on track to meet the December 2026 spending deadline since 72% of funds have already been spent.

While cities and counties are still working to spend remaining ARPA funds, local leaders might consider their localities’ funding needs once SLFRF allocations are spent. Using the downloadable data from the dashboard, local leaders can use keyword searches to explore localities that reported using other funding sources post-ARPA in project descriptions. While it is not necessary to report this information to the Treasury Department, local leaders might consider if projects will continue and need additional funding post-ARPA. Many ARPA projects supported staff salaries and impactful programming, and seeing these programs end outright once funds are spent would be a loss for the communities that invested in them. The following spotlights show ways counties and cities are continuing ARPA projects with other funding sources.