Department of Agriculture
Headcount, average pay, length of service, sub-agencies, and hiring trends for Department of Agriculture, drawn directly from the OPM Federal Workforce Data (June 2026).
OPM FedScope stock folio
Employment stock June 2026 Department of Agriculture
Department of Agriculture is a major federal employer: 78,075 employees (4.0% of the federal civilian workforce) across 51 states (including DC). At an average salary of $88,512 it pays below the federal average of $117,339, and headcount grew 0.8% from the prior period.
Monthly FedScope employment stock for Department of Agriculture - headcount, pay, tenure, and nearest peer names from the same OPM extract (78,075 employees · $88,512 avg).
- HEAD 78,075
- RANK #8/126
- PAY $88,512
- LOS 13.5 yrs
- SHARE 4.0%
- STATES 51
- NET +242
- SUBS 29
- PHOTO Department of Health and Hum
- BOOK OPM FWD
Headcount peers
Photo peer: Department of Health and Human Services (72,919 employees)
According to OPM FedScope June 2026, Department of Agriculture ranks #8 of 126 federal agencies by headcount (the same employee_count ordering as our agencies directory and /rankings/largest-agencies). Peer bars use similar workforce size, not duty-station geography. Corpus placement →
Department of Agriculture pay book (lean avg)
Lean-pay strip (78,075 employees · $88,512 avg) vs federal average $117,339.
Sub-agencies by average pay band
Employees counted under the sub-agency whose average salary falls in each band, not an individual pay distribution. Covers 78,075 of Department of Agriculture's staff assigned to mapped sub-agencies.
- Under $80k: 37,273 (48%)
- $80k–$100k: 25,803 (33%)
- $100k–$120k: 8,528 (11%)
- $120k–$150k: 6,180 (8%)
- $150k+: 291 (0%)
Agency Average
$88,512
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
-24.6%
Where Department of Agriculture ranks on pay
Ranked by agency (not weighted by headcount), its average salary of $88,512 is higher than 2% of the 121 federal agencies (3 pay less on average). Smaller specialized agencies often post higher per-employee averages than large ones like Department of Agriculture, so this agency-count rank can differ from a comparison to the government-wide, employee-weighted average shown above. The highlighted bar marks where Department of Agriculture sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 121 federal agencies; Department of Agriculture ranks higher than 2%.
Sub-agency pay span (dense agency)
Under $80K
37,273
$80K–$100K
25,803
$100K–$120K
8,528
$120K–$150K
6,180
Over $150K
291
Sub-agencies & Organizational Units
Department of Agriculture has 29 sub-agencies. The highest-paying unit averages $197,200.
| Sub-agency | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forest Service | 33,576 | $77,381 | 12 yrs |
| Natural Resources Conservation Service | 8,882 | $89,657 | 13.9 yrs |
| Food Safety and Inspection Service | 7,313 | $84,218 | 15.6 yrs |
| Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service | 6,856 | $90,249 | 13.1 yrs |
| Agricultural Research Service | 4,780 | $101,173 | 15.2 yrs |
| Agricultural Marketing Service | 3,697 | $72,970 | 11 yrs |
| Rural Development | 3,023 | $107,594 | 16.9 yrs |
| Farm Service Agency | 2,752 | $98,888 | 13.6 yrs |
| Office of the Chief Information Officer | 1,164 | $122,899 | 18.6 yrs |
| Food and Nutrition Service | 1,146 | $134,897 | 15.7 yrs |
| Fpac Business Center | 1,000 | $125,862 | 19.7 yrs |
| Office of the Chief Financial Officer | 725 | $105,339 | 17.8 yrs |
| Foreign Agricultural Service | 534 | $145,567 | 16.3 yrs |
| National Agricultural Statistics Service | 479 | $129,396 | 19.2 yrs |
| Office of the Inspector General | 356 | $144,323 | 19.6 yrs |
| Risk Management Agency | 352 | $130,795 | 17.1 yrs |
| Departmental Administration | 325 | $131,152 | 19.7 yrs |
| National Institute of Food and Agriculture | 286 | $126,559 | 14 yrs |
| Office of the General Counsel | 206 | $160,084 | 17 yrs |
| Economic Research Service | 191 | $142,781 | 14.6 yrs |
| Office of the Secretary of Agriculture | 120 | $145,603 | 6.9 yrs |
| Civil Rights | 94 | $134,739 | 18.4 yrs |
| Office of the Chief Economist | 49 | $174,495 | 18 yrs |
| Homeland Security Staff | 48 | $145,953 | 14.1 yrs |
| National Appeals Division | 45 | $137,583 | 17.2 yrs |
| Office of Budget and Program Analysis | 35 | $156,787 | 18.2 yrs |
| Office of Communications | 29 | $138,087 | 14.1 yrs |
| Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement | 11 | $127,095 | 6.4 yrs |
| Rural Business-Cooperative Service | 1 | $197,200 | 1.1 yrs |
Geographic Presence
Department of Agriculture has employees in 51 states (including DC). California has the most with 8,611 employees.
| State | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 8,611 | $80,232 | 11.3 yrs |
| Oregon | 4,095 | $76,930 | 11.6 yrs |
| Texas | 3,446 | $84,125 | 14.3 yrs |
| Montana | 3,157 | $76,935 | 12.1 yrs |
| Idaho | 2,952 | $73,847 | 11.4 yrs |
| Colorado | 2,941 | $94,792 | 13.4 yrs |
| District of Columbia | 2,749 | $150,588 | 18.3 yrs |
| Missouri | 2,494 | $100,065 | 15.9 yrs |
| Washington | 2,441 | $80,291 | 11.7 yrs |
| Georgia | 2,301 | $88,100 | 14.2 yrs |
| New Mexico | 2,222 | $81,557 | 12.4 yrs |
| Arizona | 2,141 | $75,933 | 11.4 yrs |
| Maryland | 1,933 | $130,077 | 17.9 yrs |
| North Carolina | 1,750 | $93,467 | 14.8 yrs |
| Louisiana | 1,674 | $88,752 | 15.9 yrs |
| Utah | 1,661 | $79,366 | 12.3 yrs |
| Iowa | 1,604 | $87,300 | 14.2 yrs |
| Florida | 1,455 | $90,602 | 15.1 yrs |
| Minnesota | 1,427 | $90,366 | 14.5 yrs |
| Arkansas | 1,366 | $79,976 | 14.5 yrs |
Showing top 20 of 51 states
Workforce Dynamics
Dynamics feed (RSS)Monthly hiring and separation trends. Net change over 12 months: +242.
| Month | Accessions | Separations | Net |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 2026 | +676 | -388 | +288 |
| May 2026 | +28 | -75 | -47 |
| Apr 2026 | +22 | -14 | +8 |
| Mar 2026 | +8 | -3 | +5 |
| Feb 2026 | +5 | -3 | +2 |
| Jan 2026 | +4 | -6 | -2 |
| Dec 2025 | +1 | -2 | -1 |
| Nov 2025 | +0 | -3 | -3 |
| Oct 2025 | +0 | -1 | -1 |
| Sep 2025 | +0 | -5 | -5 |
| Aug 2025 | +1 | -1 | +0 |
| Jul 2025 | +0 | -2 | -2 |
vs Federal Hiring Climate
OPM FedScope dynamics for Jun 2026 — Department of Agriculture against the same-month federal civilian totals (not a forecast).
Agency net (Jun 2026)
+288
+676 / −388
Federal net (Jun 2026)
+2,416
+15,984 / −13,568
Share of federal accessions
4.23%
Moved with the federal climate this month
Hiring & Separation Reasons
Why employees join and leave Department of Agriculture
Accession Reasons
NEW HIRE - COMPETITIVE SERVICE APPOINTMENT
627
NEW HIRE - EXCEPTED SERVICE APPOINTMENT
119
TRANSFER IN - INDIVIDUAL TRANSFER
4
Separation Reasons
QUIT
263
RETIREMENT - VOLUNTARY
120
OTHER SEPARATION
39
TRANSFER OUT - INDIVIDUAL TRANSFER
38
TERMINATION (EXPIRED APPT/OTHER)
26
Sub-agencies by average tenure
Agency-wide average length of service is 13.5 years. Counts below are employees in sub-agencies whose average tenure falls in each band, not how many individuals have that length of service.
Sub-agency avg under 5 yrs
1
Sub-agency avg 5–10 yrs
131
Sub-agency avg 10–15 yrs
56,317
Sub-agency avg 15–20 yrs
21,626
Sub-agency avg over 20 yrs
0
Similar-Sized Agencies
Federal agencies with a similar workforce size to Department of Agriculture
Showing 6 of 125 other federal agencies.
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Treasury
Department of Defense
Department of Interior
Department of Transportation
Social Security Administration
Nationwide agencies with similar pay or tenure
Two peer sets for Department of Agriculture on OPM FedScope averages that vary across the full agency corpus, not duty-station geography or sub-agency hierarchy.
Peers near this lean pay band
Nearest agency-wide average salaries ($88,512 here).
Peers near this dense headcount tenure
Nearest agency-wide average length of service (13.5 years here).
How these figures are calculated
The pay percentile above is computed live from PlainGovJobs' own OPM FedScope database, not hand-typed: Department of Agriculture's average salary is ranked against every other federal agency's average salary, agency-by-agency (not weighted by headcount), and the percentile is the share of agencies whose average is strictly lower.
The sub-agency pay-span bars sum each sub-agency's own employee_count into one of five salary bands based on that sub-agency's average salary; the bands add up exactly to Department of Agriculture's total employee count, since every sub-agency is counted in exactly one band.
See the methodology page for the full source-to-page pipeline and refresh cadence.
Data Source: U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) FedScope Employment Cubes, June 2026. Federal civilian non-seasonal full-time and part-time employees. Data does not include military personnel, postal workers, or intelligence agency staff. Last updated: 2026-08-11.
Data currency: Employment stock from OPM Federal Workforce Data June 2026 (prior-period deltas vs May 2026); monthly hiring/separations from FWD Dynamics June 2024–June 2026 (filled civilian headcount and flows, not live USAJOBS vacancy listings). State pages sum only duty stations with a disclosed US state/DC code; 898,675 employees have redacted geography in the release and appear in the national total only. Database compiled 2026-08-11. See our methodology § populations for the three windows. Spot a figure that looks wrong? Report a correction.