The Washington region lost over 62,000 federal jobs from January 2025 to January of this year, putting the region’s federal workforce at its lowest figures since 1990, according to a new Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments analysis.
The D.C. region’s 16.5% dip in federal workforce was topped only by nearby Baltimore, which shed 20.5% of its federal jobs over the same time frame. The New York statistical area lost 7.4% of its federal jobs, and Philadelphia dipped 10.1%.
Many of the cuts were part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts to slash the federal government. President Donald Trump established the department – commonly called DOGE – by executive order in January 2025 and tapped billionaire Elon Musk to lead the group, which operated until last fall.
The council of government’s new report, which analyzes data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, showed the D.C. region’s unemployment rate increased from 3.8% to 4.4% from December to January.
The bureau’s federal jobs data only dates back to 1990.
“The numbers are stark,” Clark Mercer, executive director of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, said in a statement. “We cannot achieve long-term economic resilience without coordinated action. COG was pleased to see that Mayor Bowser, Governor Spanberger, and Governor Moore have already met twice to discuss workforce development and other issues, and area leaders have been working across the public, private, nonprofit, and higher education sectors to advance several new collaborations. We need to build on this momentum.”
The 62,100 federal job losses are part of roughly 103,900 jobs lost in the region overall from January 2025 to January 2026. Fairfax County’s unemployment rate jumped from 2.7% to 3.8% over that time frame. Loudoun County’s rate rose from 2.7% to 3.7%, while Prince William’s increased from 2.9% to 3.8%.
“The big takeaway is that this is a continuation of the contraction in the federal workforce following the federal workers who took the deferred retirement package in October,” Keith Waters, an economist with George Mason University, told WTOP News. “It certainly takes some time for these things to come through the system.”
Waters said beyond government employees, the DOGE cuts had a major impact on federal contractors. But he offered optimism that some government positions may return later this year.
“We do kind of anticipate, through the end of the year, that direct federal employment might actually come back up just a little bit as maybe they hire some folks back for positions that they realized were a little bit more crucial than they needed,” Waters said.
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