Federal mineral royalties by state

These are the eleven states that received the largest fiscal year 2024 disbursements from ONRR. The money is the federal government's share of royalties, rents, and bonuses from energy and mineral leases on federal land within each state, plus the offshore Gulf share for the coastal states.

Source: U.S. Department of the Interior and the Office of Natural Resources Revenue, fiscal year 2024 disbursement release, November 8, 2024. A complete list of all 33 states and the underlying data is on the Natural Resources Revenue Data portal. Figures are disbursements recorded in the fiscal year and can include corrections for prior years.

When a company produces oil, gas, coal, or other minerals on federal or Tribal land, it pays the federal government a royalty, a share of the value, on top of lease rents and signing bonuses. ONRR collects, audits, and then disburses that money. This is the government's royalty as the owner of public land. It is not the royalty a private mineral owner receives from a lease on private land, which is a separate payment from the operator and never passes through ONRR. If you own minerals under private land, these figures are context, not your check.

Of the $16.45 billion disbursed in fiscal year 2024, $6.32 billion went to the U.S. Treasury, $4.29 billion to 33 states, $3.09 billion to the Reclamation Fund that builds water and power infrastructure in the West, $1.18 billion to Tribes and individual Indian mineral owners, $1.01 billion to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, $413 million to federal agencies, and $150 million to the Historic Preservation Fund. Under the Mineral Leasing Act, most public land states are shared roughly half of the revenue from onshore federal leases within their borders, which is why a production heavy state such as New Mexico receives so much. Four Gulf states, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, also share offshore revenue under the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act.