How Much Smaller Is the Federal Work Force? Shutdown Plans Offer a Clue.

By Ashley Wu

Oct. 1, 2025

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Before the government shutdown began Wednesday, many agencies published contingency plans — routine frameworks that are typically updated before a shutdown. These documents included details about which programs will be suspended and how many employees will be furloughed until the shutdown is over.

They reveal, to some extent, how much President Trump has slashed the federal work force through firings, layoffs and incentivized resignation programs, because they also include a recent report of how many employees work at each agency.

Agency Number of employees Sept. 2024 Recent Change

Education

4,209

2,447

As of Sept. 20

– 42 %

Office of Personnel Management

3,011

2,007

Date not provided

– 33

Housing and Urban Development

8,843

6,105

Date not provided

– 31

Treasury

113,992

81,165

As of July 24 or later

– 29

Defense (civilian work force)

945,000

741,477

Date not provided

– 22

Small Business Administration

7,827

6,201

As of Sept.

– 21

Energy

17,372

13,812

As of Oct. 1

– 20

Interior

69,367

58,619

Date not provided

– 15

Health and Human Services

92,620

79,717

As of July 31

– 14

Agriculture

98,473

85,907

Date not provided

– 13

Labor

14,578

12,916

Date not provided

– 11

Commerce

48,442

42,984

Date not provided

– 11

Social Security Administration

58,409

51,825

As of Sept. 9

– 11

Environmental Protection Agency

16,839

15,166

Date not provided

– 10

Transportation

57,014

53,717

Date not provided

– 6

Veterans Affairs

482,831

461,499

As of March

– 4

Justice

117,129

115,131

As of May 31

– 2

Homeland Security

217,889

219,550

As of May 31 or later

+ 0.8

Sources: Office of Personnel Management (Sept. 2024); official government agency shutdown plans (recent)

Notes: Up-to-date counts of an agency’s total work force may not be reflected. Figures for Homeland Security exclude U.S. Coast Guard. Subagencies within Homeland Security reported their employment counts as of May 31, Aug. 31, Sept. 6, and Sept. 26. Figures for Treasury exclude two small subagencies that have not yet released plans. Two Treasury subagencies reported their employment counts as of July 24 and Oct. 1; the rest did not specify dates.

Before these shutdown plans were published, there was no official data that offered a snapshot of how much the federal work force has shrunk since Trump took office.

But there are limits to the data agencies released: some employment figures were from as early as March 2025, so they do not capture the sweeping cuts made through the year by Mr. Trump and Elon Musk’s cost-cutting effort, the Department of Government Efficiency.

And many of the agencies’ figures still include the tens of thousands of employees who accepted the deferred resignation program, generally ending their employment with the government at the end of September or December.

But the employment numbers do appear to reflect the large reductions in force at the Education, Interior and Health and Human Services Departments, as well as the Office of Personnel Management.

Some departments published staffing counts by subagency. A selection of them is shown below.

Health and Human Services

Subagency Number of employees Sept. 2024 Recent Change

Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response

5,123

949

– 81 %

Food and Drug Administration

20,912

16,130

– 23

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

916

754

– 18

National Institutes of Health

21,097

18,244

– 14

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

6,557

6,247

– 5

C.D.C. and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

12,993

13,632

+ 5

Indian Health Service

13,859

14,801

+ 7

Homeland Security

Subagency Number of employees Sept. 2024 Recent Change

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency

3,395

2,540

– 25 %

Citizenship and Immigration Services

22,004

22,408

+ 2

Customs and Border Protection

66,514

67,792

+ 2

Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers

1,333

1,359

+ 2

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

20,606

21,028

+ 2

Federal Emergency Management Agency

24,348

24,925

+ 2

Secret Service

8,066

8,269

+ 3

Interior

Subagency Number of employees Sept. 2024 Recent Change

Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement

875

560

– 36 %

National Park Service

21,866

14,500

– 34

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

634

473

– 25

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

9,067

7,001

– 23

U.S. Geological Survey

8,417

6,776

– 20

Bureau of Indian Affairs

3,748

3,126

– 17

Bureau of Land Management

10,925

9,250

– 15

Justice

Subagency Number of employees Sept. 2024 Recent Change

Executive Office for Immigration Review

2,716

2,559

– 6 %

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

5,298

5,146

– 3

Federal Bureau of Investigation

37,414

36,755

– 2

Drug Enforcement Administration

8,912

8,875

– 0.4

U.S. Marshals Service

5,544

5,535

– 0.2

Bureau of Prisons

35,710

36,019

+ 0.9

Labor

Subagency Number of employees Sept. 2024 Recent Change

Office of Disability Employment Policy

66

51

– 23 %

Employee Benefits Security Administration

830

668

– 20

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

1,896

1,664

– 12

Bureau of Labor Statistics

2,321

2,055

– 11

Transportation

Subagency Number of employees Sept. 2024 Recent Change

Federal Transit Administration

718

517

– 28 %

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

790

574

– 27

Federal Highway Administration

3,013

2,268

– 25

Federal Aviation Administration

46,170

44,829

– 3

Treasury

Subagency Number of employees Sept. 2024 Recent Change

Internal Revenue Service

99,001

74,299

– 25 %

Bureau of the Fiscal Service

3,303

2,612

– 21

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau

518

459

– 11

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network

267

247

– 7

Veterans Affairs

Subagency Number of employees Sept. 2024 Recent Change

Veterans Health Administration

427,915

407,599

– 5 %

Board of Veterans Appeals

1,468

1,435

– 2

Veterans Benefits Administration

34,806

34,472

– 1

National Cemetery Administration

2,404

2,407

+ 0.1

Electronic Health Record Modernization

192

250

+ 30

Sources

Data is based on publicly available contingency plans from the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, Labor, Transportation, Veterans Affairs, Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Personnel Management, Small Business Administration, Social Security Administration and Treasury.

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