How Many Federal Workers Are There In Minnesota

UNDATED (WJON News) -- There has been a lot of talk in recent weeks about shrinking the federal workforce and eliminating unnecessary jobs.

So, how many people may be affected here in Minnesota?  According to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, as of December 20th, 2024, the federal government employs more than two million civilians who live and work in every state and U.S. territory.

These figures do not include uniformed military personnel or federal contract workers, and the U.S. Postal Service.

The report says there were about 18,000 federal workers in Minnesota in 2024.

Broken down by congressional district, Minnesota's 6th District which includes St. Cloud has about 5,259 federal government workers, which is about 1.31 percent of the entire workforce.

These workers would include those employed at the St. Cloud VA Medical Center, which has about 2,000 full-time and part-time employees.

Minnesota's Other Congressional Districts:
1st District - 3,449
2nd District - 7,543
3rd District - 4,955
4th District - 5,576
5th District - 6,699
6th District - 5,259
7th District - 6,078
8th District - 6,351

It is worth noting when you add up the totals from the Congressional Districts the number is much higher than the statewide number.

The report says the district-level estimates come from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey and come with margins of error, which can be significant.  The ACS relies on self-identification as a federal government civilian employee, so it does not represent an official count of employees on federal payrolls.  Also, unlike the OPM's state-level statistics, the congressional district location reflects the place of residence and not where they work. (Unlike the statewide number, people who work for the United States Military and the United States Postal Service are likely reflected in the district-level numbers.)

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Elon Musk, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), recently warned federal workers that they could face termination if they did not respond to an email inquiring about the work they accomplished in the past week.

On Monday, he stated that those who failed to reply would be given another opportunity to do so at the discretion of President Donald Trump.

Republican Congressman Tom Emmer:

Well, first off. There is a reason why they're losing their jobs because we don't need them. Second, how many people in the private sector get severance packages? I don't know that the taxpaying citizen feels all that bad about us restructuring the government

Over the weekend, Senator Tina Smith responded to Musk's request on "X," saying, “This is the ultimate d.....(dick)-boss move from Musk. Except he isn’t even the boss, he’s just a "d." (dick)

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