D.C. leans hardest on federal jobs, but Montgomery County loses them fastest

No place in greater Washington hangs more of its job base on the federal payroll than the District. But the place that lost those jobs fastest last year sits just across the line in Maryland.

In 2025, the federal share of all jobs in the District was 13.4 x U.S. share, according to annual averages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That ranks the District first among the Washington-area jurisdictions we compared.

The close-in suburbs follow. Arlington's federal concentration was 7.4 x U.S. share, Alexandria's 6.3 x U.S. share and Montgomery County's 5.2 x U.S. share.

Each is far above its own state. Maryland as a whole came in at 2.9 x U.S. share and Virginia at 2.4 x U.S. share.

Even a metro of similar size looks lightly exposed by comparison. In Fulton County, the heart of the Atlanta region, the figure was 1.7 x U.S. share.

Montgomery County took the steepest hit

Federal employment in Montgomery County fell 8.4% in 2025 from the year before, the steepest decline in the comparison. Across the U.S., federal employment fell 2.9%.

State officials have pointed to the same corner of Maryland. Federal data showed the Frederick, Gaithersburg and Bethesda area had experienced the greatest loss of federal jobs in the state, according to remarks reported by Bethesda Magazine (bethesdamagazine.com).

The exposure runs deeper than the jobs counted inside county lines. A sizable share of Maryland's federal workers live in Montgomery County, Bethesda Magazine reported (bethesdamagazine.com), so the county's stake reaches past the federal offices located there.

Statewide, Maryland's estimated federal job losses since January 2025 are the most of any state in the nation, Gov. Wes Moore's office said (The Office of Governor Wes Moore). Those jobs carry extra weight: they account for a larger share of the state's wages than of its employment (The Office of Governor Wes Moore).

The slide has not clearly stopped. Preliminary figures for March 2026 show federal employment in Montgomery County down 20.1% from a year earlier, a number that may be revised.

In raw numbers, the District absorbed the biggest loss: it averaged 7,599 fewer federal jobs in 2025 than in 2024. The District's Office of Revenue Analysis found a net loss to the District in both jobs and annualized pay (ora-cfo). The District did record new federal hiring, most of it attributable to increased staffing at the Federal Air Traffic Organization (ora-cfo), and the largest loss came in September, when many federal buyouts took effect on Sept. 30 (ora-cfo).

Alexandria was the exception. Federal employment there rose 4.4%.

Federal paychecks in Prince George's

Prince George's County moved on a different track. Its average weekly federal wage rose 5.3%, ranking first among the Washington-area jurisdictions we compared for wage growth and outpacing the national gain of 3.4%.

The county was not spared, just reached later. Through March, its federal facilities were not yet targeted by cuts or layoffs to the same extent as departments in counties such as Montgomery, according to a statement reported by The Diamondback (dbknews.com). In the summer, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it would close the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center made more staffing cuts (dbknews.com).

Federal pay in Montgomery County averaged $2,946 a week in 2025. That compares with $2,598 across Maryland and $2,027 nationwide.

A pause in the cuts

Reduction-in-force efforts have largely paused, the District's chief financial officer reported, stabilizing the federal workforce (ora-cfo.dc.gov).

The District's revenue analysts also see the cuts in their own ledgers. They reported an over-performance that is largely due to severance payments associated with federal reductions-in-force (ora-cfo.dc.gov): money tied to jobs that have already ended.

About the data

We used 2025 and 2024 annual averages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages for federal government employment and wages in Washington-area jurisdictions, Maryland, Virginia, the U.S. and Fulton County, Ga. We ranked the local jurisdictions by federal employment concentration (location quotient), percent change in federal jobs and change in average weekly federal wages. The March 2026 Montgomery County figure is a preliminary over-the-year comparison with March 2025.

• The March 2026 figures are preliminary and may be revised.
• These counts place jobs where the work is located, not where workers live, so they understate how many residents of a county depend on federal paychecks.
• The District's own revenue office used federal personnel records over a different period, so its job-loss estimates do not match the annual averages reported here.

Federal employment concentration (location quotient): the federal share of all jobs in a place divided by the federal share nationwide, so a value above the national level means a place relies on federal jobs more than the U.S. as a whole. Average weekly wage: total federal wages paid in a place divided by the average number of federal jobs, expressed per week.

Sources

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages: QCEW employment and wages, all industries — District of Columbia, DC; Montgomery County, MD; Prince George's County, MD and 7 more areas, latest period 2026-Q1; retrieved Oct. 21, 2026. Data
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages: QCEW annual average employment and wages, all industries — District of Columbia, DC; Montgomery County, MD; Prince George's County, MD and 7 more areas, latest period 2025; retrieved Oct. 21, 2026. Data
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages: QCEW employment and wages, all industries — District of Columbia, DC; Montgomery County, MD; Prince George's County, MD and 10 more areas, latest period 2026-Q1; retrieved Oct. 21, 2026. Data
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages: QCEW annual average employment and wages, all industries — District of Columbia, DC; Montgomery County, MD; Prince George's County, MD and 10 more areas, latest period 2025; retrieved Oct. 21, 2026. Data