Department of Health and Human Services
Headcount, average pay, length of service, sub-agencies, and hiring trends for Department of Health and Human Services, drawn directly from the OPM Federal Workforce Data (June 2026).
OPM FedScope stock folio
Employment stock June 2026 Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Health and Human Services is a major federal employer: 72,919 employees (3.7% of the federal civilian workforce) across 51 states (including DC). At an average salary of $137,792 it pays above the federal average of $117,339, and headcount declined 0.4% from the prior period.
Monthly FedScope employment stock for Department of Health and Human Services - headcount, pay, tenure, and nearest peer names from the same OPM extract (72,919 employees · $137,792 avg).
- HEAD 72,919
- RANK #9/126
- PAY $137,792
- LOS 14.5 yrs
- SHARE 3.7%
- STATES 51
- NET -250
- SUBS 17
- PHOTO Department of Defense
- BOOK OPM FWD
Headcount peers
Photo peer: Department of Defense (70,493 employees)
According to OPM FedScope June 2026, Department of Health and Human Services ranks #9 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 →
Salary Analysis · Department of Health and Human Services
How Department of Health and Human Services pay compares to the federal average of $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 72,919 of Department of Health and Human Services's staff assigned to mapped sub-agencies.
- $80k–$100k: 12,248 (17%)
- $100k–$120k: 4,515 (6%)
- $120k–$150k: 20,795 (29%)
- $150k+: 35,361 (48%)
Agency Average
$137,792
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
+17.4%
Where Department of Health and Human Services ranks on pay
Ranked by agency (not weighted by headcount), its average salary of $137,792 is higher than 37% of the 121 federal agencies (45 pay less on average). Smaller specialized agencies often post higher per-employee averages than large ones like Department of Health and Human Services, 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 Health and Human Services sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 121 federal agencies; Department of Health and Human Services ranks higher than 37%.
Sub-agency pay span (dense agency)
Under $80K
0
$80K–$100K
12,248
$100K–$120K
4,515
$120K–$150K
20,795
Over $150K
35,361
Sub-agencies & Organizational Units
Department of Health and Human Services has 17 sub-agencies. The highest-paying unit averages $167,502.
| Sub-agency | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Institutes of Health | 16,460 | $151,394 | 16.2 yrs |
| Food and Drug Administration | 16,240 | $159,259 | 14 yrs |
| Indian Health Service | 12,248 | $97,757 | 14.1 yrs |
| Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | 9,152 | $136,663 | 14 yrs |
| Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services | 5,631 | $146,281 | 15 yrs |
| Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response | 4,515 | $100,268 | 11.2 yrs |
| Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services | 2,578 | $150,882 | 14.8 yrs |
| Health Resources and Services Administration | 1,664 | $148,622 | 14.1 yrs |
| Administration for Children and Families | 1,500 | $137,955 | 12.1 yrs |
| Office of Inspector General | 1,313 | $145,064 | 17.6 yrs |
| Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration | 522 | $142,925 | 12.9 yrs |
| Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals | 497 | $121,030 | 15.2 yrs |
| Program Support Center | 268 | $128,520 | 16.5 yrs |
| Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry | 124 | $148,169 | 17.5 yrs |
| Administration for Community Living | 119 | $149,659 | 13.7 yrs |
| Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality | 83 | $167,502 | 15.8 yrs |
| Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health | 5 | $125,607 | 18.3 yrs |
Geographic Presence
Department of Health and Human Services has employees in 51 states (including DC). Maryland has the most with 31,947 employees.
| State | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maryland | 31,947 | $157,682 | 15.3 yrs |
| Georgia | 7,853 | $136,618 | 14.4 yrs |
| Arizona | 4,050 | $99,258 | 14.5 yrs |
| District of Columbia | 3,293 | $154,938 | 13.8 yrs |
| New Mexico | 3,017 | $98,625 | 14.8 yrs |
| California | 1,780 | $126,986 | 13.1 yrs |
| Oklahoma | 1,309 | $93,287 | 12.6 yrs |
| South Dakota | 1,255 | $92,748 | 13 yrs |
| Texas | 1,252 | $125,148 | 13.7 yrs |
| Florida | 1,218 | $114,319 | 12.9 yrs |
| Virginia | 1,208 | $143,135 | 12.9 yrs |
| North Carolina | 1,105 | $131,255 | 15.8 yrs |
| Montana | 1,008 | $99,039 | 13.4 yrs |
| New York | 1,004 | $128,213 | 12.9 yrs |
| Pennsylvania | 995 | $131,375 | 14 yrs |
| Colorado | 741 | $131,847 | 13.5 yrs |
| Ohio | 727 | $118,505 | 14.4 yrs |
| Washington | 717 | $117,875 | 13.8 yrs |
| Minnesota | 696 | $106,453 | 12.7 yrs |
| Massachusetts | 600 | $131,466 | 13.4 yrs |
Showing top 20 of 51 states
Workforce Dynamics
Dynamics feed (RSS)Monthly hiring and separation trends. Net change over 12 months: -250.
| Month | Accessions | Separations | Net |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 2026 | +368 | -578 | -210 |
| May 2026 | +13 | -38 | -25 |
| Apr 2026 | +3 | -6 | -3 |
| Mar 2026 | +1 | -2 | -1 |
| Feb 2026 | +1 | -1 | +0 |
| Jan 2026 | +0 | -1 | -1 |
| Nov 2025 | +0 | -2 | -2 |
| Oct 2025 | +0 | -2 | -2 |
| Sep 2025 | +2 | -2 | +0 |
| Aug 2025 | +3 | -8 | -5 |
| Jul 2025 | +0 | -2 | -2 |
| Jun 2025 | +1 | -0 | +1 |
vs Federal Hiring Climate
OPM FedScope dynamics for Jun 2026 — Department of Health and Human Services against the same-month federal civilian totals (not a forecast).
Agency net (Jun 2026)
-210
+368 / −578
Federal net (Jun 2026)
+2,416
+15,984 / −13,568
Share of federal accessions
2.30%
Moved against the federal climate this month
Hiring & Separation Reasons
Why employees join and leave Department of Health and Human Services
Accession Reasons
NEW HIRE - EXCEPTED SERVICE APPOINTMENT
218
NEW HIRE - COMPETITIVE SERVICE APPOINTMENT
168
TRANSFER IN - INDIVIDUAL TRANSFER
5
NEW HIRE - SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE (SES) APPT
4
Separation Reasons
QUIT
243
RETIREMENT - VOLUNTARY
154
TERMINATION (EXPIRED APPT/OTHER)
131
OTHER SEPARATION
39
TRANSFER OUT - INDIVIDUAL TRANSFER
37
Sub-agencies by average tenure
Agency-wide average length of service is 14.5 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
0
Sub-agency avg 5–10 yrs
0
Sub-agency avg 10–15 yrs
48,538
Sub-agency avg 15–20 yrs
24,381
Sub-agency avg over 20 yrs
0
Similar-Sized Agencies
Federal agencies with a similar workforce size to Department of Health and Human Services
Showing 6 of 125 other federal agencies.
Department of Defense
Department of Agriculture
Department of Treasury
Department of Interior
Department of Transportation
Social Security Administration
Nationwide agencies with similar pay or tenure
Two peer sets for Department of Health and Human Services on OPM FedScope averages that vary across the full agency corpus, not duty-station geography or sub-agency hierarchy.
Similar average salary
Nearest agency-wide average salaries ($137,792 here).
Peers near this dense headcount tenure
Nearest agency-wide average length of service (14.5 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 Health and Human Services'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 Health and Human Services'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.