This is what is known about federal employees who work in Iowa:

• Depending on the source, between 9,500 and 9,800 federal employees worked in the state in September 2024, or less than 1% of the over 2.3 million people employed by the federal government, excluding those who work for the U.S. Postal Service. (There are between 7,000 and 9,000 people who work for the postal service in Iowa.)
• The Department of Veterans Affairs has 4,785 employees who work in Iowa, the most of any department excluding the postal service.

What isn’t known is how many federal workers currently work in the state or how many may have either accepted a federal incentive to resign or were let go when agencies were ordered to fire all probationary employees who gained civil protection or who were part of diversity, equity and inclusion programs or departments.

One of President Donald Trump’s campaign promises was shrinking the size of the federal workforce, the nation’s largest employer. Trump tasked billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, with finding ways to reduce costs and increase efficiency in government agencies. Since the Jan. 20 inauguration, thousands of federal employees have lost their jobs, primarily through the actions of DOGE.

Musk, in an interview from the Oval Office on Feb. 11, said all of DOGE’s actions have been “maximally transparent. … I don’t know of a case where an organization has been more transparent.”

However, no official tally exists on the number of firings or layoffs that have occurred since Trump took office. Also, no information exists on the number of firings or layoffs of federal employees who work in Iowa.

Apparently, one of the federal departments hardest hit with layoffs in Iowa is the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But no one contacted by the Business Record over the past two weeks could say how many people were fired.

In September 2024, the USDA employed over 1,900 workers in Iowa, according to data from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. A large portion of Iowa’s economy is tied to farming. The federal department provides support through programs like crop insurance, disaster assistance, research, conservation initiative and loan programs.

Between Feb. 12 and Feb. 14, the USDA fired hundreds of its more than 100,000 workers, including many who worked in Ames.

Exactly how many USDA workers were let go and how many were located in Iowa is not known. A spokesperson for the USDA declined to answer questions about the number of employees who have been fired, either nationwide or in Iowa. The spokesperson would only say that the USDA “has released individuals from their probationary period of employment.”

People answering calls to two USDA laboratories in Ames said they were not allowed to speak to the press and referred the queries to the USDA.

A spokesperson for the Iowa Department of Agriculture also referred questions to the USDA.

A query to DOGE was answered by an email thanking the Business Record for its interest in the department.

Also, the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act does not require federal, state and local governments to issue notices when job terminations are planned.

Spokespeople for Iowa’s two U.S. senators did not answer questions about how many federal employees in Iowa have lost their jobs. Instead, the senators’ offices sent statements saying that they were monitoring changes in the workforce.

“The American people gave President Trump a mandate to rein in reckless spending, and the president is delivering on his campaign promise by conducting a review to root out government waste, fraud and abuse,” Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley said in a quote emailed to the Business Record.

Rep. Randy Feenstra, whose district includes Ames, has not received information about how many Iowans have lost their federal government jobs, including ones who had been located in Ames, a spokesperson said. Feenstra, however, supports moves to make the government operate more efficiently.

“With $36 trillion of debt, we need to make government more efficient and accountable to the taxpayer while simultaneously being deliberate and thoughtful with reforms,” Feenstra said in a statement emailed to the Business Record.

More online:
The Business Record has compiled information about federal employees who work in Iowa and the departments and divisions they work in. To review the information, click here.

Federal workers in Iowa interactive map

Iowa has over 18,100 federal workers who are employed in the state, about half of whom include those who work for the U.S. Post Office, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and Iowa Workforce Development’s Current Employment Statistics program. Of the remaining 9,854 federal workers in Iowa, over 4,700 are employed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and 1,988 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, information from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management shows. The following information from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is from 2024 and shows the number of federal employees (excluding postal workers) by metropolitan statistical area and average annual salaries.

Note: The number of employees exceeds 9,854 because two statistical areas include cities in other states.