The Federal Government Outside Washington: Regional and Field Offices
Key takeaways
- About 80 percent of federal civilian employees work outside the Washington area, with the most in California, Texas, Florida, and Georgia.
- VA hospitals, military bases, IRS and Social Security offices, national parks, border posts, airports, courts, and research labs spread federal jobs across every state.
- Many agencies organize their regional offices around ten standard federal regions created in 1969, while the FBI has 55 field offices and the Federal Reserve 12 district banks.
- Some agencies are headquartered outside Washington, including Social Security near Baltimore, the CDC in Atlanta, and the TVA in Knoxville.
- Agriculture announced in 2025 that it would move most Washington staff to five regional hubs, and Space Command is moving to Huntsville.
- Past moves, such as two Agriculture research agencies in 2019 and the Bureau of Land Management in 2020, led most staff to quit rather than relocate.
Many people think of the federal government as Washington, but most of its work happens elsewhere: in hospitals, offices, bases, parks, labs, and ports across the country. Decisions about where to put federal offices affect local economies, services, and politics.
This guide explains where federal workers are, how agencies divide the country, which agencies are based outside the capital, and the debate over moving more of the government away from Washington.
In 1969 President Nixon created ten standard federal regions with headquarters in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, Denver, San Francisco, and Seattle, and agencies such as EPA, FEMA, HHS, HUD, and Labor still use them. Other agencies use their own maps: the FBI has 55 field offices, the Federal Reserve 12 district banks, the federal courts 94 districts, and Social Security about 1,200 field offices. Federal Executive Boards in about 28 cities coordinate agencies locally.
Only about one in five full-time federal civilian employees works in Washington, Maryland, or Virginia. California, Texas, Florida, and Georgia have the most federal workers, and nearly every county has some. The Department of Veterans Affairs, with hospitals and clinics in every state, and the military services, with bases across the country, employ the most. About 12 percent of employees, including many in the FBI and Secret Service, have locations not published for security reasons.
Moving headquarters is a recurring idea. Two Agriculture research agencies moved to Kansas City in 2019, and the Bureau of Land Management moved its headquarters to Grand Junction, Colorado, in 2020, but most affected employees quit and the BLM headquarters returned in 2021. In July 2025 Agriculture announced plans to move most of its roughly 4,600 Washington-area staff to hubs in Raleigh, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Fort Collins, and Salt Lake City. In September 2025 the President announced that Space Command would move from Colorado to Huntsville, Alabama, while the FBI chose to stay in Washington rather than build in Maryland.
Supporters of moving more federal work out of Washington say it would save money on expensive office space, spread jobs and economic benefits, help agencies understand the communities they serve, and reduce what they see as an insular capital culture. Critics say forced moves drive out experienced staff, disrupt work for years, and are sometimes used to shrink agencies or reward political allies. Telework, the return to the office in 2025, and the sale of underused federal buildings have added new twists to the debate.
Several agencies have headquarters outside the capital. The Social Security Administration is based in Woodlawn, Maryland, outside Baltimore, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and the Tennessee Valley Authority in Knoxville. NASA runs major centers in Houston, Huntsville, Cape Canaveral, and California, the IRS processes returns in Kansas City, Ogden, and Austin, and NOAA and the Commerce Department's standards lab operate in Boulder, Colorado. Military commands are based across the country, from Tampa to Omaha to Colorado Springs.
Most federal services reach people through local offices and staff: Social Security field offices, VA clinics, post offices, passport agencies, IRS taxpayer assistance centers, Small Business Administration offices, farm service offices in rural counties, and federal courts. Cuts to field staff and office closures, including some in 2025, draw attention because they affect waiting times and access, especially in rural areas. Members of Congress often fight to keep federal facilities in their states.
See the whole workforce in the federal workforce by the numbers, how federal money reaches communities in how federal grants reach your town, or how states and Washington divide work in states vs. federal: who does what.