The Trump administration, including through Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is taking several actions to reduce the number of federal workers. That includes an executive order to incentivize workers to resign, now blocked by a federal judge; cuts to funding for certain agencies; weakening of civil service protections, the firing of specific employees; and a new executive order to cut staff and limit hiring.
In Kentucky, shrinking the federal workforce means reduced access to certain services, and it also means a loss of jobs. Kentucky had 23,114 federal civilian employees in 2024 according a report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). That makes the federal government a larger employer in Kentucky than Amazon, Ford or UPS, each of which have about 13,000 employees in the state.
Besides civilians who work for defense agencies, the largest cabinet by number of workers in Kentucky is the Department of Veterans Affairs, with 6,242 employees. Kentucky has 370,000 veterans who rely on these services, 7.2% of the state’s adult population.
A total of 5,539 of those federal employees work in the Veterans Health Administration, which includes doctors, nurses, and other staff at the Lexington VA hospital plus VA medical centers in Louisville and Ft. Thomas; vet centers that provide mental health services in Lexington and Louisville; and 19 community outpatient clinics for veterans that are located from Hopkinsville to Hazard to Mayfield. There are also 562 Kentuckians who work for the Veterans Benefits Administration helping access supports like the GI Bill and home loans, and who have offices in Fort Campbell, Louisville and Fort Knox. And there are 23 Kentuckians who work for the National Cemetery Administration at eight cemeteries and soldiers’ lots across the state.
The primary non-defense cabinets employing Kentucky workers in 2024 include:
- Veterans Affairs: 6,242
- Treasury: 2,813
- Agriculture: 1,167
- Justice: 907
- Social Security Administration: 724
- Interior: 339
- Labor: 253
- Commerce: 177
- Homeland Security: 158
- Health and Human Services: 127
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: 74
- Energy: 73
- Housing and Urban Development: 49
- Small Business Administration: 29
While the above data comes from federal payrolls, the CRS has also estimated the number of federal employees by congressional district using American Community Survey self-reported data. Federal employees live across the state, as shown in the map below.
By county, the biggest presence of federal civilian employment is in Hardin County, home of Fort Campbell. Federal jobs also make up a significant share of employment in a number of rural counties.
As demonstrated by the uproar over the attempted federal funding freeze and other payment cuts ranging from farmers to university health research, federal programs involve the jobs and well-being of people in our communities. When that funding is reduced, it weakens the economy as less money circulates locally and as public services become harder to access. In addition, fewer career federal employees mean fewer retirees whose pension spending generates additional economic activity. Kentucky has 34,970 federal civilian retirees or their survivors who currently receive those benefits.
