Our Approach
This website combines data and stories to demonstrate the impact of federal science and the changes resulting from cuts and disruptions to the government’s workforce and funding.
Our data focuses on a subset of federal agencies whose missions reflect the breadth of the federal government’s activity and funding related to science, health and technology. We define federal science agencies as those that are involved in at least one science sector as described below.
“Government-wide” data refers to all federal agencies for which data is available. “Science agencies” refers only to the science agencies as defined above.
Individual profiles and public servant highlights are a mix of original journalism, examples from the Partnership’s Service to America Medals® program and citations from the news.
Disclaimer: We do not track, collect or store any personal data or identifiable information.
Sources
Federal workforce data comes from the Office of Personnel Management. Current data is as of February 2026. Percentage and net change data is calculated using September 2024 data as the baseline. We use September 2024 as the baseline since it reflects the state of the federal workforce at the end of fiscal year 2024, and before any of the concerted efforts to reduce the size of the federal workforce that occurred in 2025. February 2026 data comes from the OPM’s Federal Workforce Data site. September 2024 data comes from the site’s predecessor, FedScope. Both draw from the same underlying dataset, the Enterprise Human Resources Integration. Workforce data does not include contractors or uniformed military personnel. Agency-level data includes all employees within an agency. Occupation-level data includes all employees classified under the corresponding four-digit OPM occupational code.
Grants and Contracts data are derived from USAspending’s assistance and contracts datasets for awards in fiscal years 2024 and 2025. Grant values reflect federal obligations for project grants. Obligations refer to money that the government has promised to spend, either immediately or in the future, by signing a contract, awarding a grant or placing an order for a product or service. Scientific contract values reflect federal obligations for research and development contracts in the fields of agriculture, energy, natural resources and environment, general science and technology, health and space as defined by the General Services Administration’s product and service codes for fiscal 2025 and the Partnership’s sector classification system. Grants and contracts data only covers science agencies as defined in the sector breakdown below. Some of the agencies in our science agency list did not issue grant and/or contract funding in both fiscal years and are not reflected in the data.
Additional data that does not come from the above datasets is linked to the corresponding source.
Impact by Sector
Data in the “Impact by Sector” section is calculated using a custom classification system created by the Partnership for Public Service. These eight sectors were determined based on organizational missions and are drawn from the overall list of science agencies. Several agencies are included in multiple sectors. Therefore, we do not recommend comparing data across sectors. Totals for all science agencies are calculated using a deduplicated list of agencies. The agencies included in each sector are:
Food and Agriculture: Agricultural Research Service, Economic Research Service (USDA), National Agricultural Statistics Service, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, Food and Nutrition Service, Foreign Agricultural Service, Farm Service Agency, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Food and Drug Administration, Natural Resources Conservation Service
Biomedical Research: National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, Veterans Health Administration, Defense Health Agency
Public Health and Disease Prevention: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Indian Health Service, Health Resources and Services Administration, Veterans Health Administration, Defense Health Agency, Military Treatment Facilities Under DHA, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Naval Medical Command, U.S. Army Medical Command, Air Force Medical Command, Food and Drug Administration, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
National Parks and Public Lands: National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, U.S. Forest Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Environmental Research and Innovation: Environmental Protection Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Weather Forecasting and Emergency Response: Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response
Scientific Discovery and Technological Innovation: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Science Foundation, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Science and Technology Directorate (DHS), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Department of Energy
Energy Research and Infrastructure: Department of Energy, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation
Impact in Your Community
Data in the Impact in Your Community map comes from the Office of Personnel Management and USAspending sources detailed above.
Science Workforce data in the map covers only employees of the science agencies listed above as of February 2026. Change data represents the percentage change in employees since September 2024. The location of some federal employees is redacted in the OPM data for security reasons, so the state totals may be an undercount in some cases.
Grants and contracts data includes only project grant obligations and research and development contracts in the fields of agriculture, energy, natural resources and environment, general science and technology, health and space. Data is limited to obligations by the science agencies listed above. Change data is calculated using fiscal 2024 as a baseline.
State grants and contracts totals are the sum of the state’s congressional district totals and do not include data that is not associated with a specific district.
Congressional districts in the product are those for the 119th Congress (2025-2026).
The District of Columbia is treated as a state and an at-large congressional district for the purposes of this product.