The Data Behind the U.S. Federal Government Workforce
As of November 2024, the federal government employed just over 3 million people. The number of federal employees has topped 3 million since September 2024. The last time the government could claim that many employees was in September 1994.
Federal employment numbers peaked at 3.4 million in 1990 and the most recent low was in 2014, with 2.7 million. It’s the nation's 15th largest workforce.
The Department of Defense has the most full-time employees with 775,100. Next are the Department of Veterans Affairs (433,700) and Homeland Security (212,000).
Washington DC has the highest number of federal employees (162,144) representing 43.3% of its workforce. Beyond the capital, the top states are California (147,487) and Virginia (144,483).
Dig into the data in this slideshow. 👉 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️