Department of Commerce
Headcount, average pay, length of service, sub-agencies, and hiring trends for Department of Commerce, drawn directly from the OPM Federal Workforce Data (June 2026).
OPM FedScope stock folio
Employment stock June 2026 Department of Commerce
Department of Commerce is a major federal employer: 41,007 employees (2.1% of the federal civilian workforce) across 51 states (including DC). At an average salary of $129,985 it pays above the federal average of $117,339, and headcount grew 0.4% from the prior period.
Monthly FedScope employment stock for Department of Commerce - headcount, pay, tenure, and nearest peer names from the same OPM extract (41,007 employees · $129,985 avg).
- HEAD 41,007
- RANK #14/126
- PAY $129,985
- LOS 14.4 yrs
- SHARE 2.1%
- STATES 51
- NET +393
- SUBS 12
- PHOTO Social Security Administrati
- BOOK OPM FWD
Headcount peers
Photo peer: Social Security Administration (49,439 employees)
According to OPM FedScope June 2026, Department of Commerce ranks #14 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 Commerce pay book (lean avg)
Lean-pay strip (41,007 employees · $129,985 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 41,007 of Department of Commerce's staff assigned to mapped sub-agencies.
- Under $80k: 10,764 (26%)
- $120k–$150k: 10,001 (24%)
- $150k+: 20,242 (49%)
Agency Average
$129,985
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
+10.8%
Where Department of Commerce ranks on pay
Ranked by agency (not weighted by headcount), its average salary of $129,985 is higher than 29% of the 121 federal agencies (35 pay less on average). Smaller specialized agencies often post higher per-employee averages than large ones like Department of Commerce, 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 Commerce sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 121 federal agencies; Department of Commerce ranks higher than 29%.
Sub-agency pay span (dense agency)
Under $80K
10,764
$80K–$100K
0
$100K–$120K
0
$120K–$150K
10,001
Over $150K
20,242
Sub-agencies & Organizational Units
Department of Commerce has 12 sub-agencies. The highest-paying unit averages $167,430.
| Sub-agency | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patent and Trademark Office | 13,529 | $156,119 | 15.3 yrs |
| U.S. Census Bureau | 10,764 | $79,629 | 9.9 yrs |
| National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | 9,811 | $133,492 | 16.8 yrs |
| National Institute of Standards and Technology | 3,150 | $151,732 | 16.5 yrs |
| International Trade Administration | 1,125 | $152,472 | 14.9 yrs |
| Office of the Secretary | 886 | $155,820 | 15.4 yrs |
| National Telecommunications and Information Administration | 530 | $167,430 | 15.4 yrs |
| Bureau of Industry and Security | 433 | $157,974 | 15.2 yrs |
| Bureau of Economic Analysis | 374 | $157,197 | 16.8 yrs |
| Office of the Inspector General | 197 | $155,908 | 17.4 yrs |
| Economic Development Administration | 190 | $142,422 | 13.2 yrs |
| Minority Business Development Agency | 18 | $151,450 | 14.6 yrs |
Geographic Presence
Department of Commerce has employees in 51 states (including DC). Maryland has the most with 10,097 employees.
| State | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maryland | 10,097 | $150,699 | 17.3 yrs |
| Virginia | 7,495 | $152,510 | 16.5 yrs |
| District of Columbia | 2,127 | $155,624 | 14.4 yrs |
| California | 1,718 | $110,825 | 10.9 yrs |
| Florida | 1,617 | $115,352 | 13.4 yrs |
| Texas | 1,363 | $108,183 | 11.2 yrs |
| Colorado | 1,338 | $141,522 | 14.8 yrs |
| Washington | 990 | $127,526 | 14.7 yrs |
| New York | 932 | $104,413 | 10.5 yrs |
| North Carolina | 807 | $114,724 | 12.2 yrs |
| Indiana | 727 | $73,479 | 14.4 yrs |
| Pennsylvania | 715 | $118,471 | 11.9 yrs |
| Massachusetts | 649 | $122,481 | 12.9 yrs |
| Michigan | 618 | $111,793 | 10.4 yrs |
| Illinois | 615 | $97,762 | 8.8 yrs |
| Georgia | 570 | $99,089 | 10.7 yrs |
| New Jersey | 483 | $118,326 | 11.4 yrs |
| South Carolina | 439 | $104,100 | 12.8 yrs |
| Missouri | 421 | $105,826 | 15.1 yrs |
| Oregon | 416 | $104,235 | 11.8 yrs |
Showing top 20 of 51 states
Workforce Dynamics
Dynamics feed (RSS)Monthly hiring and separation trends. Net change over 12 months: +393.
| Month | Accessions | Separations | Net |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 2026 | +791 | -356 | +435 |
| May 2026 | +9 | -45 | -36 |
| Apr 2026 | +8 | -9 | -1 |
| Mar 2026 | +0 | -2 | -2 |
| Feb 2026 | +0 | -2 | -2 |
| Dec 2025 | +2 | -2 | +0 |
| Sep 2025 | +1 | -1 | +0 |
| Jul 2025 | +1 | -0 | +1 |
| Jan 2025 | +0 | -1 | -1 |
| Dec 2024 | +1 | -0 | +1 |
| Nov 2024 | +0 | -1 | -1 |
| Aug 2024 | +0 | -1 | -1 |
vs Federal Hiring Climate
OPM FedScope dynamics for Jun 2026 — Department of Commerce against the same-month federal civilian totals (not a forecast).
Agency net (Jun 2026)
+435
+791 / −356
Federal net (Jun 2026)
+2,416
+15,984 / −13,568
Share of federal accessions
4.95%
Moved with the federal climate this month
Hiring & Separation Reasons
Why employees join and leave Department of Commerce
Accession Reasons
NEW HIRE - EXCEPTED SERVICE APPOINTMENT
414
NEW HIRE - COMPETITIVE SERVICE APPOINTMENT
370
TRANSFER IN - INDIVIDUAL TRANSFER
29
Separation Reasons
QUIT
266
RETIREMENT - VOLUNTARY
76
OTHER SEPARATION
32
TERMINATION (EXPIRED APPT/OTHER)
19
TRANSFER OUT - INDIVIDUAL TRANSFER
19
Sub-agencies by average tenure
Agency-wide average length of service is 14.4 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
0
Sub-agency avg 5–10 yrs
10,764
Sub-agency avg 10–15 yrs
1,333
Sub-agency avg 15–20 yrs
28,910
Sub-agency avg over 20 yrs
0
Similar-Sized Agencies
Federal agencies with a similar workforce size to Department of Commerce
Showing 6 of 125 other federal agencies.
Social Security Administration
Department of Transportation
Department of Interior
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Department of Energy
Environmental Protection Agency
Nationwide agencies with similar pay or tenure
Two peer sets for Department of Commerce 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 ($129,985 here).
Peers near this dense headcount tenure
Nearest agency-wide average length of service (14.4 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 Commerce'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 Commerce'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.