Federal Workforce Shrank by 12 Percent in Trump’s First Year Back in Office

The U.S. government’s civilian workforce shrank by about 12 percent over the first year of the second Trump administration, the latest federal data show.

Figures updated on March 4 by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) indicate that as of Jan. 20, 2026, the federal civilian headcount stood at 2,035,344—a net decrease of 264,228 employees compared with the level on Jan. 20, 2025, right before President Donald Trump’s second inauguration.

The cuts were across federal departments, but the steepest reduction in absolute terms was at the Department of War, which shed a net 78,083 positions over the period. That was followed by the Treasury and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which eliminated a net 28,951 and 27,890 jobs, respectively. This is the first time since 2015 that the VA has not recorded a net increase in its workforce.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was the only department to have a net gain in personnel, adding 801 employees amid intensified immigration and border enforcement efforts.

Within DHS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement—the agency tasked with carrying out what Trump describes as the largest deportation of illegal immigrants in the nation’s history—added a net 7,997 employees over the period, according to OPM. Customs and Border Protection also reported a net gain of 1,995 people.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, meanwhile, had a slight net decrease of 86 employees as the agency tightened immigration policies and focused on stricter vetting and reviews of who is allowed to enter and remain in the country.

Most federal workers who left in the past year did so through what is called the deferred resignation program, according to OPM. Introduced in 2025 as a new separation option for federal employees, the program allows individuals to agree to leave federal service while continuing to receive full pay and benefits during a period of paid administrative leave. A smaller share of departures came from layoffs and voluntary resignations.

When it came to hiring, the Department of War led the chart with 30,363 new employees, followed by the VA and DHS, which had 27,818 and 24,417 hires, respectively. Even so, both the War and VA departments had net losses over the year.

The figures reflect Trump’s effort to fulfill his pledge to shrink the federal bureaucracy. Working with billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the administration has embedded teams inside government agencies to cut contracts, positions, and sometimes entire programs flagged as fraudulent or wasteful.

DOGE—which has a mandated sunset date of July 4, 2026, so it does not itself become an example of government inefficiency, has reported uncovering billions of dollars in potential savings. Although DOGE’s website has not been updated since January, the task force says its efforts since its establishment have led to savings of $215 billion, or about $1,335 per taxpayer.

At the same time, DOGE’s methods and findings have faced intense scrutiny, triggering lawsuits over alleged inaccuracies, the use of unauthorized data-sharing methods, and potential violations of privacy laws.

Some of those disputes have resulted in victories for DOGE. In June 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in an unsigned order that the task force could access Social Security data, overturning a lower court order that had blocked DOGE staffers from doing so. In another case, the high court held that DOGE does not have to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests.