Federal worker data visualized: Maps and charts show jobs, locations, departments

Government agencies are reporting more layoffs as the Trump administration continues its mass reduction of the federal workforce.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Feb. 11 directing the federal government to implement a "workforce optimization initiative" created by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.

Approximately 75,000 federal employees took buyouts before news of layoffs rolled in.

While there is no official count of how many workers have been laid off, it could surpass 100,000 workers, as Paste BN previously reported.

Who are the 3 million federal employees and what jobs do they perform? A Paste BN analysis of the federal workforce explores the answers.

How many people work for the federal government?

About 3 million people were on the federal payroll as of November 2024, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported. That's nearly 2% of the entire civilian workforce in the country. More than 600,000 of those employees work for the U.S. Postal Service ‒ an independent federal agency.

Government contractors are not counted as part of the federal workforce, neither are the 1.3 million active-duty military personnel.

Aside from federal employees at the Postal Service, there were about 2.4 million federal workers as of last November.

The Pew Research Center reported that the federal government – not counting the Postal Service – is the nation’s single largest employer, with even more workers than Walmart, Amazon, or McDonald’s.

Which departments employ the most people?

Of the 18 cabinet-level departments in the executive branch, the Department of Veterans Affairs employs the most people ‒ more than 486,000, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of the Office of Personnel Management FedScope data. This analysis uses data from March 2024 and does not include postal workers, employees working for intelligence agencies, or presidential appointees who require Senate confirmation.

Within the Department of Veterans Affairs, most federal employees work for the Veterans Health Administration ‒ a major health care system with a network of hospitals, clinics and nursing homes that provides care to over 9.1 million veterans.

The Department of Education is the smallest federal agency, employing 4,245 people. Trump has previously stated plans to shut down the Education Department.

The department oversees nearly $2 trillion in federal student loans, a figure on par with some of the biggest banks. It also protects students from predatory colleges and holds higher education institutions accountable for ensuring their degrees provide a good return on investment.

Where do federal employees live?

More than 80% of the federal workforce lives outside of the Washington, D.C., metro area. About 454,000 federal employees work in the district, Maryland and Virginia.

California and Texas have a large concentration of federal employees, about 147,500 and 130,000, respectively, according to the Pew Research Center.

What are the most common jobs in the federal government?

Nearly 364,000 federal employees, or 16% of the federal workforce, are in health-related fields – the single largest occupational category. 

Who has lost their jobs so far?

Mass firings of federal workers thus far have focused primarily on eliminating recently hired or promoted probationary workers. This first round of firings came after buyouts were offered to all federal employees, which more than 75,000 workers accepted.

While the exact number of federal employees affected by layoffs is not yet known, the following departments have been affected:

Internal Revenue Service

• Approximately 6,000 employees at the IRS were set to be laid off starting Thursday, according to Reuters.

Department of Defense

• The Department of Defense announced on Feb. 21 that it planned to reduce its civilian workforce by 5%-8% by laying off about 5,400 probationary employees beginning the following week.

Department of Homeland Security

• More than 400 employees, identified as "non-mission critical personnel in probationary status," were fired at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Paste BN recently reported.

Department of the Interior

• At least 2,300 federal workers had their positions terminated. Among them were 800 Bureau of Land Management employees and about 1,000 National Park Service workers.

Federal Aviation Administration

• About 400 recently hired support staff employees at the FAA were fired on Feb. 14 as part of the Trump administration's mass terminations of federal workers, according to the union representing the employees.

Department of Health and Human Services

• Thousands of probationary employees were fired across the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to multiple reports.
• Roughly 700 workers were let go at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to The Associated Press and NPR, 

United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

• About 10,000 USAID employees, excluding essential personnel, were placed on administrative as of Feb. 7, and battles over the federal funding freeze are underway in court.

Small Business Administration

• About 20% of the agency's staff, or about 720 SBA employees, including hundreds of probationary employees, were fired, Politico reported.

Department of Agriculture

• About 3,400 probational workers, or nearly 10% of the Forest Service workforce of 35,000 employees were laid off.

Other agencies and departments that experienced layoffs include: The Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Personnel Management, the General Services Administration, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Department of Energy and the Department of Education.

CONTRIBUTING Kinsey Crowley, Joey Garrison and Mike Snider, Paste BN