Federal Employment in the Portland Metropolitan Area
April, 08 2025Federal budget cuts – past and future – will have wide ranging impacts on the national, state, and local economies. It’s too early to determine the magnitude of these impacts, but it’s almost certain the federal workforce will decline given published reports from across Oregon and the U.S. In the interim, it seems like a fitting time to step back and profile federal employment in the Portland metro area. For more on impacts across the state, see the article Federal Government Jobs in Oregon.
Federal Government Employment
The seven-county Portland metropolitan area had about 19,100 federal government jobs in 2024, accounting for 1.5% of total employment. For perspective, our share is lower than rural Oregon (2.2%), the nation (1.9%), and the average large metro area (1.9%). The top metro areas for federal government employment, outside of Washington D.C., have large military presences (naval air stations, air force bases) or, in the case of Huntsville, Alabama, FBI headquarters. While Portland is home to several National Guard units (air and army), their footprint is small.
Over the past few decades, employment has hovered between 18,000 and 19,000 jobs (outside of Decennial Census years), but due to steady growth (outside of recessions) elsewhere in the economy, its share has fallen from 2.5% in the early 90s to 1.5% today.
Federal Government Wages
Federal government tends to pay relatively high wages: $106,658 annually on average; 36% higher than the average across all industries ($74,672). The gap is nearly identical nationally.
Reasons for higher relative wages might include:
- Federal government jobs are more likely to require education beyond high school, which tends to be correlated with higher wages. For Oregon statewide, a smaller share of federal employees have less than a high school education compared with the overall employed workforce, and a greater share has a bachelor’s degree or higher.
- Federal government jobs are more likely to be full-time. According to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), approximately 90% of federal jobs in Oregon are full-time, year-round. (Note: OPM data represents about 70% of total federal government employment in Oregon. It doesn’t include the U.S. Postal Service and several other agencies.)
- Lower-paying sectors of the economy, such as retail trade, restaurants, and accommodations, generally have little or no government employment.
Major Employers
The largest federal government employer in the Portland metro area (Oregon portion) is the Department of Veterans Affairs (4,000 jobs, 2024 annualized). Nearly three-quarters of these jobs are at the Portland VA Medical Center. The U.S. Postal Service is the second-largest federal employer (3,800 jobs) followed by the U.S. Army Reserve (1,500 jobs). Together these make up nearly two-thirds of federal employment.
Layoff Announcements
Federal layoffs have been making headlines over the past few months. Locally, the list includes (but is not limited to) the Bonneville Power Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Funding cuts to other agencies and organizations (e.g. Oregon Health Authority, Oregon Humanities, Oregon Department of Education) will also result in layoffs and/or a reduction in services.
Any federal employees who voluntarily resigned from government jobs but continue working or otherwise remain on an agency payroll until later in 2025 will also not likely be reflected in employment numbers until late in 2025. In the interim, first-time and continued claims for unemployment insurance benefits, and specifically Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE), may provide a general indicator of federal workforce reductions.