Total government employees U.S. 2023

In 2023, around 19.58 million people were working for state and local governments in the United States. This is much higher than the number of federal government (civilian) employees, which stood at about 2.87 million people in that year.

Total number of government employees in the United States from 1982 to 2023

Characteristic	Federal (civilian)	State and local
1982	2.89	12.99
1983	2.91	13.16
1984	2.92	13.49
1985	2.97	13.67
1986	3.05	13.91
1987	3.07	14.12
1988	3.11	14.48
1989	3.15	14.77
1990	3.19	15.26
1991	3.09	15.45
1992	3.11	15.7
1993	3.07	15.82
1994	3.04	16.47
1995	2.96	16.63
1997	2.83	16.73
1998	2.75	17.09
1999	2.75	17.51
2000	2.87	17.98
2001	2.74	18.27
2002	2.74	18.35
2003	2.77	18.65
2004	2.71	18.76
2005	2.72	19
2006	2.72	19.33
2007	2.71	19.39
2008	2.73	19.69
2009	2.78	19.84
2010	2.91	19.6
2011	2.86	19.41
2012	2.82	19.25
2013	2.78	19.11
2014	2.72	19.23
2015	2.73	19.29
2016	2.77	19.41
2017	2.79	19.54
2018	2.77	19.6
2019	2.79	19.69
2020	2.86	19.77
2021	2.85	18.83
2022	2.87	19.23
2023	2.93	19.58

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Release date

July 2024

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Region

United States

Survey time period

1982 to 2023

Supplementary notes

*Figures for state and local are as of March each year from 1997 onwards, and October for prior years. No survey was conducted in 1996 due to this change.
Values have been rounded.

Cumulative data for state and local government can be accessed here.

Federal Government Employees taken from the bureau of Labor Statistics' Current Employment Statistics, and reflect an annual average which is available here. Select "One Screen" for "Employment, Hours, and Earnings - National", then: "All Employees, Thousands" for box 1, "Government" for box 2, and "Federal" for 3. Select 'not seasonally adjusted data' for March each year are used to align figures with local and state government data.

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