Massachusetts state agencies and departments paid $50.8 billion for goods and services in six years. Cape Ann businesses received $26.5 million

Massachusetts state agencies and departments paid businesses, groups and local governments on Cape Ann $592.5 million over the last six state budget years, from July 2020 to June 2026. That is what the Commonwealth's own payment records show.

Only $26.5 million of that, about 4.5%, paid Cape Ann businesses for things state agencies and departments bought, like plowing, repairs, rent, supplies and consulting. Statewide, state agencies and departments spent $50.8 billion on goods and services in those years, so Cape Ann businesses received about 5 cents of every $100. Most of the money that came to Cape Ann went to the city and the towns, to social service groups like Senior Care and Action, and to doctors, dentists, nursing homes and ambulance services paid through state health and benefit programs.

These figures come from state data from the Comptroller of the Commonwealth, whose public spending site is CTHRU. You can look up state spending yourself with our free State Spending Explorer.

Official records: These numbers are the Cape Ann Current's own analysis of public data. For the official record of any state payment, visit the Comptroller of the Commonwealth's spending site, CTHRU, or the Office of the Comptroller. Spending categories and certification types in our charts and tables come from the Commonwealth's own data and programs; where we put a category in plain words or group several together, the caption says so.

Year by year, town by town

Payments to Gloucester vendors rose from $65.3 million in 2022 to $89.3 million in 2026. Rockport's roughly doubled from 2021 to 2026, to $12.6 million. A state budget year, or fiscal year, runs July 1 to June 30, so 2026 means July 2025 to June 2026. Tap the towns to add them to the chart or take them away.

Dollars paid to vendors with a Cape Ann address, by state fiscal year. Source: Comptroller of the Commonwealth, CTHRU.

What the money was for

We sorted each payment into five plain groups using the Commonwealth's own spending categories. Pick a town to see how its six-year total breaks down.

Local government means state aid and grants to the city, the towns, the school districts, the housing authorities and the Cape Ann Transportation Authority. Health care and benefits means payments for care given to people in state programs like MassHealth. Groups are our sorting of the Commonwealth's spending categories, which the Comptroller defines in its Expenditure Classification Handbook. "Other" payments of about $70,000 are not shown.

Cape Ann's share of state contract dollars, year by year

Cape Ann is home to about 0.65% of the people in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its share of state contract dollars is much smaller, and it has shrunk since 2010.

• All contracts. Counting every kind of state contract, including human and social service contracts held by nonprofits like Senior Care and Action, Massachusetts state agencies and departments paid $91.1 billion from 2021 to 2026. Cape Ann businesses and nonprofits received $134.1 million, or 0.15%.
• Goods and services only. For things the state bought, like plowing, repairs, rent, supplies and consulting, Cape Ann businesses received $26.5 million of $50.8 billion, or 0.05%.
• Massachusetts vendors only. Many state contracts go to companies based outside Massachusetts. Counting only vendors with a Massachusetts address, Cape Ann's share was 0.23% of all contract dollars and 0.12% of goods and services dollars.

The share is figured the same way each year. In 2010, Cape Ann vendors received 0.31% of all state contract dollars, helped by $10.9 million that year in snow removal and grounds work by Mayer Tree Service of Essex for the Department of Conservation and Recreation. The share fell to about 0.13% in 2021 and 2022, then rose to 0.18% in 2026. For goods and services alone, it fell from 0.31% in 2010 to about 0.05% in most years since 2017.

All contracts means the Comptroller's spending categories for goods and services, human and social service contracts and contract workers. Cape Ann counts businesses and nonprofits with a Cape Ann address, not the city and towns themselves. Source: Comptroller of the Commonwealth, CTHRU.

About this comparison. Population shares use the U.S. Census: 44,381 Cape Ann residents of 6,547,629 statewide in 2010 (0.68%), used for 2010 to 2019, and 45,791 of 7,029,917 in 2020 (0.65%), used from 2020 on. Work a Cape Ann business does as a subcontractor, or under an out-of-town address, is not counted, so Cape Ann's real share may be somewhat higher.

The local businesses state agencies and departments buy from

About 110 Cape Ann vendors sold the state goods or services in the last six years. The biggest was Mayer Tree Service in Essex, which did tree, grounds and highway work for the Commonwealth's transportation, conservation and other departments. Most of the others are small and local. Filter the list by town or kind of work, or tap a column name to sort.

Businesses only; payments to individuals are not named. Jeffreys Creek Land Contractors is paid under two spellings, combined here. Source: Comptroller of the Commonwealth, CTHRU, fiscal years 2021 to 2026.

Plowing is the biggest local contract

When it snows, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation hires local contractors and their trucks to plow and treat state highways like Route 128. That work paid 25 Cape Ann vendors $6.6 million in six years, about a quarter of all the goods and services money, and 1.6% of everything state agencies and departments spent on hired plowing.

State spending on snow and ice equipment and removal. Statewide, state agencies and departments paid $415.9 million to 1,471 vendors for this work over the same six years.

Grants to the waterfront

Some state money reaches Cape Ann businesses as grants, not purchases. Since 2021, Gloucester fishing and seafood businesses received about $4.7 million from state food security and fisheries budget lines.

Grants to Gloucester vendors under state food security, agricultural and fisheries budget lines. Source: Comptroller of the Commonwealth, CTHRU.

Few Cape Ann firms use the Commonwealth's diversity and small business programs

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has programs that help some businesses win state work. The Small Business Purchasing Program is for Massachusetts firms with 50 or fewer full-time workers and $15 million or less in yearly sales. When an executive department buys goods or services (not construction) worth up to $250,000 a year, it is directed to buy from program members. The Commonwealth's Supplier Diversity Office also certifies businesses owned by minorities, women, veterans, people with disabilities and LGBT owners.

On Oct. 9, the Commonwealth's directory listed 16 businesses with a Cape Ann address. Only three show state payments under their names.

Sources: Supplier Diversity Office directory and Comptroller of the Commonwealth, CTHRU. A business may also earn state money as a subcontractor, which these records do not show. Certification types, such as minority-owned, women-owned and veteran-owned, are the Commonwealth's own labels, not ones the Cape Ann Current created or defined.

Statewide, spending with diverse and small businesses has more than doubled since 2017. (Read our story on the Commonwealth's diverse and small business spending.)

The Commonwealth's latest diversity report, for fiscal 2025, also lists the vendors it counted as diverse or small. Seven are in Gloucester. Four are nonprofits state agencies and departments count as diverse because of who leads them: Senior Care, Action, North Shore Health Project and Wellspring House. Three are waterfront businesses: Gloucester Marine Railways, BioMarine Research and Three Lantern Marine and Fishing. In 2025 state agencies and departments paid the four nonprofits $23.8 million and the three businesses about $71,000.

How a Cape Ann business can sell to the state

1. Register on COMMBUYS. COMMBUYS is the Commonwealth's free buying site. Most state bids are posted there, and you can get emails when one matches your work.
2. Join the Small Business Purchasing Program if you qualify. It is free and is done through the Supplier Diversity Office's online system.
3. Get certified if your business is owned by a minority, a woman, a veteran, a person with a disability or an LGBT person. Certification is free through the Supplier Diversity Office.
4. Look at statewide contracts. The Commonwealth's purchasing agency runs more than 100 master contracts that state agencies, cities, towns and schools all buy from. Some reopen to new vendors, like the trades contracts reopened in 2024. Big contract holders also promise to hire certified diverse businesses, so a certified Cape Ann firm can sell to them too.

Federal agencies are another market. Downtown Gloucester is a federal HUBZone, which gives certified businesses there an edge on some federal contracts.

Where to get help on Cape Ann

Each community handles business help a little differently.

For the whole region:

• North Shore Chamber of Commerce
• Massachusetts Small Business Development Center, free one-on-one advising, with a North Shore office at Salem State University
• Enterprise Center at Salem State University, classes, space and connections for North Shore business owners
• Massachusetts APEX Accelerator, free help bidding on government contracts
• MassDevelopment, state loans and financing, which briefed Cape Ann businesses at a Gloucester economic development workshop in January 2023
• Massachusetts Office of Business Development, state business incentives and a regional contact
• MassHire North Shore, hiring and job training help
• Center for Women and Enterprise
• Supplier Diversity Office, free certification and training webinars

About the data

These figures come from state data from the Comptroller of the Commonwealth and the Supplier Diversity Office, and from the U.S. Census. Numbers may change slightly as the state updates its records. For official records, visit the Comptroller's spending site, CTHRU, or the Office of the Comptroller.