National Science Foundation
Headcount, average pay, length of service, sub-agencies, and hiring trends for National Science Foundation, drawn directly from the OPM Federal Workforce Data (June 2026).
OPM FedScope stock folio
Employment stock June 2026 National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation is a smaller federal agency: 1,104 employees (0.1% of the federal civilian workforce) across 32 states (including DC). At an average salary of $165,766 it pays well above the federal average of $117,339, and headcount declined 0.6% from the prior period.
Monthly FedScope employment stock for National Science Foundation - headcount, pay, tenure, and nearest peer names from the same OPM extract (1,104 employees · $165,766 avg).
- HEAD 1,104
- RANK #33/126
- PAY $165,766
- LOS 16.7 yrs
- SHARE 0.1%
- STATES 32
- NET -7
- SUBS 1
- PHOTO Federal Reserve System
- BOOK OPM FWD
Headcount peers
Photo peer: Federal Reserve System (1,082 employees)
According to OPM FedScope June 2026, National Science Foundation ranks #33 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 →
National Science Foundation pay book (rich avg)
Rich-pay strip (1,104 employees · $165,766 avg) vs federal average $117,339.
Agency Average
$165,766
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
+41.3%
Where National Science Foundation ranks on pay
Ranked by agency (not weighted by headcount), its average salary of $165,766 is higher than 79% of the 121 federal agencies (95 pay less on average). Smaller specialized agencies often post higher per-employee averages than large ones like National Science Foundation, so this agency-count rank can differ from a comparison to the government-wide, employee-weighted average shown above. The highlighted bar marks where National Science Foundation sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 121 federal agencies; National Science Foundation ranks higher than 79%.
Sub-agency pay span (dense agency)
Under $80K
0
$80K–$100K
0
$100K–$120K
0
$120K–$150K
0
Over $150K
1,104
Sub-agencies & Organizational Units
National Science Foundation has 1 sub-agencies. The highest-paying unit averages $165,766.
| Sub-agency | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Science Foundation | 1,104 | $165,766 | 16.7 yrs |
Geographic Presence
National Science Foundation has employees in 32 states (including DC). Virginia has the most with 977 employees.
| State | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia | 977 | $166,346 | 16.8 yrs |
| Maryland | 30 | $145,650 | 17.8 yrs |
| District of Columbia | 7 | $153,628 | 14.5 yrs |
| Pennsylvania | 6 | $172,547 | 12.4 yrs |
| Florida | 6 | $156,066 | 23.6 yrs |
| California | 6 | $194,125 | 9.8 yrs |
| Texas | 6 | $122,061 | 12.3 yrs |
| Colorado | 5 | $177,563 | 13.9 yrs |
| Washington | 4 | $168,355 | 11.9 yrs |
| North Carolina | 4 | $151,263 | 21.3 yrs |
| Rhode Island | 3 | $207,127 | 13.6 yrs |
| New York | 3 | $191,160 | 9.9 yrs |
| New Jersey | 3 | $191,555 | 13.2 yrs |
| Massachusetts | 2 | $169,005 | 14.9 yrs |
| Kansas | 2 | $197,337 | 23.4 yrs |
| Maine | 2 | $175,121 | 13.8 yrs |
| Ohio | 2 | $166,496 | 17.4 yrs |
| Georgia | 2 | $147,000 | 18.9 yrs |
| Minnesota | 2 | $184,282 | 12.5 yrs |
| Michigan | 2 | $193,062 | 12.6 yrs |
Showing top 20 of 32 states
Workforce Dynamics
Dynamics feed (RSS)Monthly hiring and separation trends. Net change over 1 months: -7.
| Month | Accessions | Separations | Net |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 2026 | +2 | -9 | -7 |
vs Federal Hiring Climate
OPM FedScope dynamics for Jun 2026 — National Science Foundation against the same-month federal civilian totals (not a forecast).
Agency net (Jun 2026)
-7
+2 / −9
Federal net (Jun 2026)
+2,416
+15,984 / −13,568
Share of federal accessions
0.01%
Moved against the federal climate this month
Hiring & Separation Reasons
Why employees join and leave National Science Foundation
Accession Reasons
NEW HIRE - EXCEPTED SERVICE APPOINTMENT
1
NEW HIRE - COMPETITIVE SERVICE APPOINTMENT
1
Separation Reasons
RETIREMENT - VOLUNTARY
5
QUIT
2
TERMINATION (EXPIRED APPT/OTHER)
1
TRANSFER OUT - INDIVIDUAL TRANSFER
1
Similar-Sized Agencies
Federal agencies with a similar workforce size to National Science Foundation
Showing 6 of 125 other federal agencies.
Federal Reserve System
National Labor Relations Board
Federal Trade Commission
Federal Communications Commission
National Credit Union Administration
Court Services and Offendr Supervsn Agy
Nationwide agencies with similar pay or tenure
Two peer sets for National Science Foundation on OPM FedScope averages that vary across the full agency corpus, not duty-station geography or sub-agency hierarchy.
Peers near this rich pay band
Nearest agency-wide average salaries ($165,766 here).
Peers near this dense headcount tenure
Nearest agency-wide average length of service (16.7 years here).
How these figures are calculated
The pay percentile above is computed live from PlainGovJobs' own OPM FedScope database, not hand-typed: National Science Foundation'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 National Science Foundation'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.