According to the U.S. Bureaus of Labor Statistics and Economic Analysis, there were more than 116,000 federal civilian employees working in New York in 2024, earning $11.2 billion in wages. Employment has decreased significantly since 2000, when there were more than 147,000 federal government employees working in New York, and is likely to decrease in 2025 as a result of federal actions to downsize the federal workforce.
Figure 1 – Numbers of Federal Government Civilian Employees: New York, 2000 - 2024
Note: Numbers of annual average employees at all federal agencies based on location not including members of the armed forces and other exclusions.
New York State Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages.
Figure 2 – Wages and Salaries of Federal Civilian Government Employees: New York, 2015 - 2024
Note: Not adjusted for inflation. Does not include $2.6 billion in wages for military employees in New York (wages and in-kind pay received by armed services, Coast Guard and reserve personnel).
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Data/GDP and Personal Income, SQINC7N Wages and Salaries of employees by NAICS industry (Government and government enterprises/Federal civilian).
Federal Employees in New York Compared to Other States
New York ranked seventh in 2024 for the highest number of federal government civilian employees and their total annual wages compared to other states and the District of Columbia (D.C.). The top five for both measures were California, Texas, Virginia and Maryland along with D.C. For annual wages per employee, New York ranked 21st. These outcomes are based on the location of employment, not the residence of the worker.
Figure 3 – Numbers and Wages of Federal Government Employees: States and D.C., 2024
| State | Annual Average Employment | Total Annual Wages | Annual Wages per Employee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 58,274 | $5,872,936,211 | $100,781 |
| Alaska | 15,537 | $1,542,113,679 | $99,254 |
| Arizona | 59,177 | $5,916,013,690 | $99,971 |
| Arkansas | 21,856 | $1,916,976,040 | $87,710 |
| California | 254,253 | $26,833,027,275 | $105,537 |
| Colorado | 57,087 | $5,999,919,677 | $105,101 |
| Connecticut | 18,700 | $1,754,285,560 | $93,814 |
| Delaware | 6,725 | $630,941,188 | $93,817 |
| District of Columbia | 192,644 | $27,162,723,894 | $141,000 |
| Florida | 161,319 | $15,465,695,841 | $95,870 |
| Georgia | 112,796 | $10,615,357,272 | $94,111 |
| Hawaii | 35,680 | $3,461,982,035 | $97,028 |
| Idaho | 14,480 | $1,314,201,162 | $90,760 |
| Illinois | 82,325 | $7,942,457,138 | $96,477 |
| Indiana | 40,540 | $3,605,039,356 | $88,926 |
| Iowa | 18,372 | $1,520,313,302 | $82,752 |
| Kansas | 26,914 | $2,350,350,747 | $87,327 |
| Kentucky | 36,332 | $3,084,590,522 | $84,900 |
| Louisiana | 32,547 | $2,873,301,557 | $88,283 |
| Maine | 17,318 | $1,686,235,372 | $97,371 |
| Maryland | 161,679 | $21,248,923,929 | $131,427 |
| Massachusetts | 46,259 | $4,769,317,617 | $103,100 |
| Michigan | 57,503 | $5,398,714,043 | $93,886 |
| Minnesota | 33,502 | $3,180,784,939 | $94,944 |
| Mississippi | 27,410 | $2,368,493,992 | $86,411 |
| Missouri | 57,127 | $5,013,771,135 | $87,766 |
| Montana | 14,286 | $1,321,636,172 | $92,513 |
| Nebraska | 17,319 | $1,520,438,856 | $87,789 |
| Nevada | 22,624 | $2,125,872,476 | $93,967 |
| New Hampshire | 9,115 | $929,548,427 | $101,977 |
| New Jersey | 49,773 | $5,052,184,717 | $101,504 |
| New Mexico | 30,042 | $2,900,402,083 | $96,546 |
| New York | 116,109 | $11,249,176,949 | $96,884 |
| North Carolina | 82,195 | $7,366,763,305 | $89,626 |
| North Dakota | 9,345 | $784,623,245 | $83,962 |
| Ohio | 84,951 | $8,127,816,537 | $95,677 |
| Oklahoma | 53,233 | $4,657,274,649 | $87,488 |
| Oregon | 29,522 | $2,894,430,586 | $98,042 |
| Pennsylvania | 103,709 | $9,645,551,266 | $93,006 |
| Rhode Island | 11,849 | $1,214,835,644 | $102,529 |
| South Carolina | 38,035 | $3,428,386,883 | $90,137 |
| South Dakota | 11,742 | $1,000,580,324 | $85,214 |
| Tennessee | 58,146 | $5,898,254,080 | $101,439 |
| Texas | 224,541 | $21,842,999,588 | $97,278 |
| Utah | 41,376 | $3,567,351,761 | $86,218 |
| Vermont | 6,859 | $699,084,349 | $101,926 |
| Virginia | 194,079 | $22,344,844,693 | $115,133 |
| Washington | 79,628 | $7,986,617,606 | $100,299 |
| West Virginia | 26,586 | $2,591,044,794 | $97,458 |
| Wisconsin | 31,362 | $2,645,019,909 | $84,339 |
| Wyoming | 8,106 | $719,673,239 | $88,778 |
Note: Annual averages of federal government civilian employment and wages. Does not include members of the armed forces and other exclusions. For a complete list of federal government exclusions, see appendix A of the UCFE Instructions for Federal Agencies.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, Employment and Wages Data Viewer.
Federal Employees Working in New York State by County
Most federal government employees work in downstate regions and in counties where New York’s major upstate cities are located. In 2024, 40 percent, or almost 46,000, worked in New York City and over 14 percent, over 16,800, worked on Long Island. There were similar shares in wages for these employees in these areas, nearly $5.0 billion in New York City in 2024 and over $1.6 billion in Long Island.
There were over 9,100 federal government workers in Erie County in 2024, which includes the city of Buffalo; these individuals earned $868 million in total wages. Albany County was the next largest upstate center of federal workers with 5,435 employees who earned $502 million in 2024.
Figure 4 – Numbers and Wages of Federal Civilian Government Employees: New York Counties, 2024
Note: Annual averages of federal government civilian employment and wages. Does not include members of the armed forces and other exclusions. For a complete list of federal government exclusions, see appendix A of the UCFE Instructions for Federal Agencies.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, Employment and Wages Data Viewer.
Implications of Federal Actions
Federal workers perform a range of functions in New York. Apart from work at military installations, individuals fill jobs as air traffic controllers, health care workers and scientific researchers, postal workers, public protection and court system officers, engineers, inspectors and skilled tradespeople. Not including the armed forces, the U.S. Postal Service, legislative and judicial branches and other exceptions, the top five agencies that employ federal civilian workers in New York are the Department of Veterans Affairs, U.S. Army, Department of the Treasury, Social Security Administration and the Department of Defense.1
On July 7, 2025, the President extended the hiring freeze of most federal civilian positions through October 15, 2025 that he initiated when he took office.2 The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has indicated there were 2,289,472 federal civilian employees on March 31, 2025, a decrease of 23,744 from 2,313,216 on September 30, 2024. OPM also projects that “hundreds of thousands” more workers will leave the federal workforce in October 2025 as the result of the Deferred Resignation Program. There are also “tens of thousands” of employees who received reduction-in-force and termination notices and remain in the federal government due to court action currently being challenged.3 This may affect the critical functions noted above, among others.
While not all federal workers in New York live in the state, they contribute to its economy. Recent data indicates there were 3,000 fewer federal jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis in New York in July 2025 from January 2025.4
Endnotes
1 The Department of Defense in this context does not include the Air Force, Army and Navy. Partnership for Public Service, Beyond the Capital: The Federal Workforce Outside the D.C. Area.
2 President Donald J. Trump, Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies: Ensuring Accountability and Prioritizing Public Safety in Federal Hiring, July 7, 2025; and Hiring Freeze, January 20, 2025.
3 Office of Personnel Management, New Data Shows Trump Administration’s Progress in Right-Sizing the Federal Bureaucracy, July 1, 2025.
4 Or 2,400 fewer jobs not seasonally adjusted. New York State Department of Labor, Current Employment Statistics (accessed August 13, 2025).