Across the executive branch of the federal government, 553,281 veterans are carrying their dedication to service into civilian careers, accounting for more than one in four federal employees. This is a remarkable share given that veterans represent just 6% of U.S. adults, according to 2024 Census data.
Over 80% of veterans in the civil service are concentrated in three federal agencies, the Department of War, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Homeland Security, with the remainder serving in agencies across the federal government.
Three cabinet-level agencies—the Department of War, the Department of Transportation and the General Services Administration—employ a greater proportion of veterans than the government-wide average of 27.3%, with veterans comprising 42.4%, 33.9% and 27.6% of their respective workforces.
The five subagencies employing the most veterans are the Veterans Health Administration, Air Force Materiel Command, Customs and Border Protection, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Defense Health Agency’s Military Treatment Facility system. The VHA workforce alone accounts for almost 15% of all veterans employed by the executive branch.
Veterans in the federal workforce have a range of occupations and backgrounds
Veterans in government perform hundreds of different roles, covering everything from security-focused positions such as law enforcement and intelligence officers to administrators, HR managers, doctors and nurses. For instance, 14,229 nurses employed by the government are veterans, as are 8,014 out of 21,642 air traffic controllers or 37% of that workforce.
The top three occupational groups by number of veterans employed are general administrative, clerical and office services; investigations; and medical, hospital, dental and public health work.
Like all other civil servants, veterans working for the federal government possess a range of backgrounds and experiences. Veterans have served an average of 16.2 years in the civilian federal workforce, nearly four years more than the average length of service for non-veterans.
Veterans also tend to be older than civil servants who are not veterans—about 83% of veterans in the federal workforce are 40 or older, compared to 66% of non-veterans.
The number of veterans in the civil service has declined under the current administration
Looking at trends in the federal workforce over time, the number of veterans in the civil service is currently at a 10-year low, down over 100,000 from the roughly 661,000 veterans employed as of August 2016.
This decline is largely due to the reductions in the federal workforce during the second Trump administration. Approximately 131,000 veterans have left government since January 2025, far outpacing veteran hiring and leading to a net loss of roughly 87,000. The same three cabinet-level agencies employing the most veterans—the Department of War, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Homeland Security—also lost the most veterans during this period.
However, the proportion of federal workers who served in the armed forces has remained largely unchanged amid widespread workforce cuts since the start of the administration, only slightly declining from 27.8% to 27.3%.
Conclusion
Regardless of recent workforce declines, the outsized contribution veterans make to the public good through federal employment remains unchanged. The Partnership for Public Service is grateful this Veterans Day—as we are every day—for these public servants’ continued service to their country.
Author: Owen Haywood
Owen Haywood is an associate analyst who focuses on understanding government through data.