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; cuts to funding for certain agencies; layoffs of probationary employees; weakening of civil service protections, the firing of specific employees; and an 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 6,111 employees. Kentucky has 370,000 veterans who rely on these services, 7.2% of the state’s adult population.
A total of 5,401 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 567 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 cabinets employing Kentucky civilian workers in September 2024 include:
- Army: 7,380, including 1,385 at Army Human Resources Command, which is located at Fort Knox, and 1,310 at the Army Corps of Engineers
- Veterans Affairs: 6,111
- Treasury: 3,269
- Defense: 1,717, including 776 at Military Treatment Facilities that provide healthcare at military bases
- Agriculture: 1,178, including 419 at the Forest Service, 225 at the Natural Resources Conservation Service, 144 at Food Safety and Inspection, 115 at the Farm Service Agency, and 105 at Rural Development
- Justice: 940
- Social Security Administration: 720
- Interior: 373, including 236 at the National Park Service including Mammoth Cave, 42 at U. S. Fish and Wildlife and 29 at Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement
- Transportation: 364, including 313 with the Federal Aviation Administration
- Labor: 254, including 158 at the Mine Safety and Health Administration
- Commerce: 241, including 143 at the Census Bureau and 65 at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration which includes National Weather Service offices in Jackson, Louisville and Paducah
- Air Force: 226
- Homeland Security: 163, including 67 with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
- Health and Human Services: 133, including 37 at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 33 with Strategic Preparedness and Response, 30 with the Food and Drug Administration and 13 with the National Institutes of Health
- Energy: 78
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: 76
- Housing and Urban Development: 49
- Small Business Administration: 29
- Environmental Protection Agency: 26
Other key characteristics of this Kentucky workforce include:
- 25% or 5,756 have been employed less than two years, which makes them vulnerable to recent layoffs of probationary employees, although it is unclear how many were actually laid off.
- 32% are veterans
- 26% have a disability
- 23% of the Kentucky federal workforce are people of color compared to 11% of the entire Kentucky employed population. 14% are Black compared to 8% of the entire Kentucky employed population.
- 50% are women and 50% are men
- 37% have a high school degree or less and 45% have at least a Bachelor’s degree.
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 employees by place of residence is Hardin County, home of Fort Knox. Federal jobs also make up a significant share of employees 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. Contrary to what many assume, 93% of federal employees live and work outside of Washington, D.C. When federal 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.
Updated February 25, 2025.
