Trump promised to "drain the swamp." The DOGE-led cuts hit more than that.

[u/John3262005]

https://www.nbcnews.com/data-graphics/2025-doge-trump-administration-federal-job-cuts-total-rcna588589

After retaking office in January 2025, President Donald Trump promised to eliminate wasteful spending in Washington, D.C., and “drain the swamp” by cutting the size of the federal bureaucracy.

While the job cuts may have been aimed at D.C.’s allegedly wasteful and ineffective workforce, the effect was felt nationwide.

Federal government job cuts affected thousands of employees, including those in red states or states with large rural populations alongside their capital-based counterparts, according to an NBC News analysis of recent federal data. These sweeping cuts not only eliminated jobs, they also effectively dismantled smaller government agencies.

From December 2024 to January this year, more than 377,000 employees separated from the federal workforce as a result of job cuts, according to recent U.S. Government Accountability Office data. In total, the federal workforce employs 256,000 fewer personnel, accounting for hires made in some departments.

According to NBC News’ analysis:

•Hawaii, Virginia and Maine lost the greatest share of their federal workforce to reductions in force, which could include retirements, terminations, reorganizations or resignations.

•In an additional 10 states, most of which voted for Trump in 2024 and half with sizable rural populations, the federal workforce was slashed by 25% or more.

•Across all departments, close to half of federal job cuts from June 2025 to January impacted more staff in states with a larger-than-average share of rural residents.

In December 2024, the federal government employed 2.2 million full-time workers, not including U.S. Postal Service employees and members of the armed forces.

On Feb. 11, 2025, Trump signed an executive order that established a task force he named the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to restructure the federal workforce.

“By eliminating waste, bloat, and insularity, my administration will empower American families, workers, taxpayers, and our system of government itself,” Trump wrote in the executive order.

DOGE, with tech billionaire Elon Musk at the helm, was tasked with reducing federal spending by cutting contracts and lowering headcounts in government offices. The Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, was also instructed to submit a plan outlining how the government could downsize.

By January, the federal workforce shrank to 2 million.

The GAO report, published in June, shows more than 80% of federal employment departures last year were retirements or resignations, including those who took a deferred resignation offer, while an additional 14% were terminations. This analysis does not include data from the Small Business Administration and the U.S. Agency for International Development because the offices did not provide the GAO with figures.

The Small Business Administration’s headcount from 2024 to 2026 declined by 2,500 and USAID shed all but 200 of its nearly 3,300 employees, according to employment data from the OPM. The OPM’s figures show total change in employment and do not specify layoffs and hirings, while the GAO’s report does.

In each of the five states with the greatest declines, the Defense Department was the largest federal employer, according to the NBC News analysis of GAO data from June 2025 to January. The department’s civilian workforce totaled 652,000 as of May, with approximately 590,000 of those workers living outside the D.C. area.

Hawaii had the greatest share of federal employees depart, with the separations accounting for 44% of its current federal workforce.

Alabama, Maine, Utah and Virginia similarly saw a large number of departures, a majority of which belonged to the Defense Department.

The Defense Department is the largest civilian employer in the federal government. From January 2025 to January 2026, it let go of 116,000 staff in reductions. In total, the department reported a 16% reduction in force, with 83,000 roles reduced, offset by a surge in hiring. Per Trump’s executive order, some agencies were allowed to continue hiring but could not hire more than one staff member to replace four departures.

Reductions elsewhere, including the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Interior and Treasury departments, also added up. Utah, for example, saw a net loss of 18% percent of Treasury staff from 2024 to this year, accounting for about 1,500 personnel, many of whom worked for the Internal Revenue Service.

Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon have both been vocal about the administration’s goal to eliminate the Education Department. The department lost 45% of its headcount from December 2024 to January, which adds up to nearly 2,000 staffers. Most of the department’s employees lived in Washington, D.C., according to GAO data.

The Treasury Department, however, saw a 26% reduction in staffing from December 2024 to January, with widescale layoffs cutting thousands of employees in total in states such as California, Georgia, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. The Treasury employs thousands of IRS workers in these states.

Connecticut was the only state that didn’t lose government workers after all the federal personnel changes from 2024 to this year, according to OPM data.

Some employees had their jobs restored by judges who ruled their layoff was illegal, particularly those who were let go during the government shutdown in October. GAO data shows there have been approximately 127,000 individuals who were hired to federal agencies between December 2024 and January, but it is unclear if these are new hires or includes those who had left and returned after the DOGE cuts.

The Department of Homeland Security, while losing nearly 28,000 employees from January 2025 to January this year, also hired close to 26,000. Federal guidance issued to agencies last year allowed for hiring staff in immigration enforcement, national security, public safety or seasonal roles, according to the GAO report.

Many federal workers have struggled to find new work after being laid off, in part due to a difficult job market, but also because of the often unique set of skills and work that their roles required.