Federal workforce costs $1 billion a day: Mapping the Swamp study

The federal workforce now costs taxpayers nearly $1 billion every day, according to a new report from Open the Books that analyzes payroll records for fiscal year 2024. The watchdog group identified 2.9 million federal employees earning a combined $270 billion in base pay last year. When the estimated 30% cost of benefits is added, the total expense reaches $351 billion — the equivalent of $673,000 per minute or $40.4 million per hour.

The report, Mapping the Swamp, draws from payroll data disclosed by the Office of Personnel Management, the United States Postal Service, the Department of Defense’s civilian workforce, and the White House. It includes 1.5 million executive agency employees, 761,624 civilian employees at the Department of Defense, and 638,007 postal workers. Salaries for the 1.3 million active-duty military members are not subject to public release under the Freedom of Information Act, and some agencies, including the IRS, intelligence agencies, the Foreign Service, the National Nuclear Security Administration, and the Bureau of Prisons, did not provide their payroll records.

Open the Books has published periodic “Mapping the Swamp” reports since 2016, tracking the growth, cost, and secrecy of the federal bureaucracy. Its latest update notes that while federal headcount has increased 45% since 1998, the payroll has grown even faster. From 2020 to 2024, the number of disclosed employees rose 5%, but total payroll climbed nearly five times as much, surging 24% in four years.

Compensation levels continue to reach new highs. Of the 2.1 million non-DOD federal employees, 793,537 earned at least $100,000 in 2024 — a 49% jump since 2020. Those earning $200,000 or more increased 82% in the same period, and the number of employees paid over $300,000 rose 84%. The highest-paid federal employee last year was Gary H. Gibbons, director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health, with a salary of $519,246.

The report also found that average pay exceeded $100,000 in 117 of 127 executive agencies and in the White House. A total of 31,452 federal employees earned more than every governor in the nation, including New York’s Kathy Hochul, who earns $250,000 annually.

A growing portion of the federal payroll is shielded from public scrutiny. In 2024, the names of 383,000 federal employees were redacted, representing $38.3 billion in pay across 56 agencies. That figure does not include the 761,624 redacted names on the Department of War’s civilian payroll or the unreleased records for active-duty military personnel. The number of redactions has increased sharply from 259,000 in 2020.

The report highlights a set of employees who earned more than the president’s $400,000 salary. In 2024, there were 956 such employees, including 939 medical officers with the Veterans Health Administration and 15 doctors at the National Institutes of Health.

Two additional employees, including an emergency room physician with the Indian Health Service and one unnamed Bureau of Prisons employee, also exceeded the presidential salary. The positions were spread across 48 states, with California accounting for the largest share.

Open the Books also compared White House payrolls between administrations. President Joe Biden’s 2024 payroll was the costliest on record, totaling $62.2 million for 565 employees,  the largest headcount since the Nixon era. In contrast, President Donald Trump’s current White House payroll totals $44.1 million for 404 staffers, a 29% reduction in cost even as 35 of those staffers earn at least $195,000.

The report concludes that the modern federal workforce is larger, more expensive, and more opaque than it has ever been, with rising salaries and widespread redactions continuing to complicate efforts at public accountability. Read the report at this link.