WASHINGTON (AP) — Civilian federal jobs are being cut by the thousands, as Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency continues to shrink the government workforce at the behest of President Donald Trump.
That's brought a lot of churn and uncertainty in the nation's capital, where 20% of the country's more than 2 million civilian — or nonmilitary — federal workers are located.
It's also affecting workers and communities outside the Washington, D.C. area, where about 80% of that workforce is based. Those cuts mean that members of Congress are now facing potential angst among the out-of-work federal employees in their districts across the country.
The precise locations of all of the thousands of federal employees now out of work isn’t yet known, but a look at the areas with the highest concentrations of civilian U.S. government jobs gives a glimpse at some places that could be most affected.
Here's a breakdown of federal government jobs across the country by the numbers, surveying data from a Congressional Research Service analysis of Census Bureau estimates, as of 2023:
D.C. area, represented by Democrats, has highest federal worker concentration
It's no surprise that the District of Columbia has the highest percentage of federal workers, who account for 18.5% of the total workforce.
And the areas immediately outside the city, in what's known as the DMV — which includes Washington and parts of Maryland and Virginia — are next up with the highest concentrations of federal workers, with the top nine districts where percentages of federal workers range from 18.2% down to 8.4%. Most of those districts are represented by Democrats, meaning that some of the areas — albeit those in the D.C. area — likely to have the most significant impacts from DOGE cuts are represented by that party in the U.S. House.
The one with the highest percentage of federal workforce is Maryland's 5th District, represented by Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer. There, about 18.2% of all workers are employed by the federal government.
Republican districts are affected, too
After the districts closest to Washington, D.C., there are GOP-represented areas with high federal worker percentages.
Virginia's 2nd District, represented by Republican Rep. Jennifer Kiggans — along the state's southeastern border with North Carolina — is the GOP area with the highest concentration of federal workers, at 8.1%. Home to Virginia Beach, and a large U.S. Navy presence, it's considered among the nation’s most politically competitive districts.
Central Oklahoma's 4th District, represented by GOP Rep. Tom Cole, has a workforce where 7.7% is employed by the federal government. The district is home to Fort Sill Army Post and Tinker Air Force Base, the latter of which includes the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex. Oklahoma’s largest single-site employer, according to Tinker’s website, the complex provides support for dozens of other Air Force Bases.
Federal employees make up 7.6% of the workforce in Alabama's 5th District, which includes Huntsville and is represented by Republican Rep. Dale Strong. The area encompasses NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, which has had a role in rocket engineering and U.S. space exploration efforts from the Saturn rockets integral to moon missions, the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station’s laboratory modules.
The data examined here doesn’t pertain directly to military jobs. Thousands of civilian government employees across the country work in areas near or attached to military installations.
Alaska, represented by an at-large Republican, has a high concentration
Alaska's sole U.S. House member, Rep. Nick Begich, represents a state with a total federal worker percentage of 6.3%.
Scott Goldsmith, an economist at the University of Alaska Anchorage, has described the state's economy as a “three-legged stool” kept balanced by three components: the oil and gas industry, the federal government, and then all other industries combined.
The federal government manages a significant amount of land in Alaska. Workers are employed by the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the Fish and Wildlife Service, among others.
New Mexico has highest percentage of federal workers across all districts
All three of New Mexico's House districts are represented by Democrats, and all of them have significant federal workforces.
Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory, two major federal research institutions, are located in the state, where the federal government is the No. 2 largest employer, according to the New Mexico Partnership.
Percentages of federal workers across the districts range from 6.3% in Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez's 3rd District to 6.2% in Rep. Gabriel Vasquez's 2nd District. In the 1st District, represented by Rep. Melanie Ann Stansbury, the workforce is 6.8% federal employees.
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Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP
Meg Kinnard And Kevin S. Vineys, The Associated Press
