Six of the 10 states with with the biggest shares of federal employees went for Trump in 2024
The Trump administration is rapidlymoving to shrinkthe federal workforceand some states will get hit much harder.
The federal workforce has more than 3 million employees across the country, with some of the biggest concentrations in Maryland, Virginia and New Mexico,according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute, which reviewed 2023 Census data and a 2024 Congressional Research Service report.
Excluding Washington D.C., where the federal workforce accounts for more than 13% of employment, the top 10states with the biggest shares of federal workers are:
- Maryland (7.3%)
- Virginia (5.6%)
- New Mexico (4.8%)
- Hawaii (4.6%)
- Alaska (4.5%)
- Oklahoma (3.4%)
- West Virginia (3.1%)
- Wyoming (2.9%)
- Alabama (2.8%)
- Montana (2.8%)
Six of the top 10 states by share of federal employees in their workforces went for Trump in the 2024 election, including Alabama, Oklahoma and West Virginia,which may prove problematic for Republicans if job cuts weaken spending and economies in the states.
Trump's efforts to scale back the federal workforce keepmeeting challenges.
But on Feb. 12, a judge ruled that the Trump administration could go forward with its plan to buy out federal workers. Around 75,000 federal employees have taken the buyouts, but that comes at 3.3% of the federal workforceand below the 5% to 10% the White House projected, USA Today reports.
Trump's mass firingsof thousands of federalprobationary employees, who are on their first or second year of the job, has been met with more setbacks, including a California judge who blocked the firings on Feb. 27.
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Posted: 2025-03-04 09:58:11
