Federal Furloughs by State: 2025 Government Shutdown Report

With Congress unable to agree upon funding legislation for 2026, the federal government shut down October 1st. Federal agencies deferred to funding contingency plans, typically resulting in furloughs for significant chunks of their workforces. These furloughed employees are not receiving paychecks during this time, though backpay is likely once a deal is struck. But the question is: How long will this take? Without ample emergency funds, families may be wondering what their next move might be. Less discretionary spending within local economies may trickle down to small business owners. And many businesses have pivoted to offer aid to affected households.

With this in mind, SmartAsset ranked 50 states and Washington D.C. based on estimated per capita impacts of the federal furloughs, including the total number of dollars at stake in the local economy.

Key Findings

Nearly 20% of Washington D.C. residents may be impacted. Based on the high rates of federal employment across a wide variety of departments, an estimated 19.6% of the total D.C. population may be facing furloughs, or 137,762 individuals. Major employers of D.C. residents include the Department of Treasury (estimated 13,170 furloughed); Department of Transportation (9,292); and Environmental Protection Agency (7,781).
Over 100,000 Maryland residents are estimated to be furloughed. Excluding Washington D.C., Maryland has both the highest rate of furloughs and the highest raw numbers. Around 103,037 federal employees may be facing liquidity issues in Maryland, or 1.6% of the state’s total population.
Connecticut residents are least impacted by federal furloughs. Just under 0.07% of Connecticut residents are estimated to be furloughed, or 2,727 people. Other states with less than 0.2% of the population impacted include Wisconsin, Delaware, Iowa, New Jersey, Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana and South Carolina.

Federal Furloughs by State, Federal Government Shutdown 2025

States are ranked based on the estimated number of federal government furloughs per capita.

District of Columbia

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 19.62%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 137,762
Total population: 702,250

Maryland

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 1.65%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 103,037
Total population: 6,263,220

Alaska

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 1.26%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 9,320
Total population: 740,133

Virginia

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 1.01%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 89,277
Total population: 8,811,195

Wyoming

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.93%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 5,438
Total population: 587,618

Montana

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.91%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 10,387
Total population: 1,137,233

New Mexico

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.88%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 18,811
Total population: 2,130,256

Hawaii

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.87%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 12,522
Total population: 1,446,146

Utah

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.81%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 28,475
Total population: 3,503,613

West Virginia

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.73%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 13,008
Total population: 1,769,979

South Dakota

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.65%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 5,996
Total population: 924,669

Colorado

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.57%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 33,707
Total population: 5,957,494

Oklahoma

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.53%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 21,798
Total population: 4,095,393

North Dakota

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.51%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 4,096
Total population: 796,568

Georgia

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.51%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 56,485
Total population: 11,180,878

Idaho

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.48%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 9,639
Total population: 2,001,619

Washington

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.44%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 35,219
Total population: 7,958,180

Alabama

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.44%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 22,496
Total population: 5,157,699

Missouri

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.43%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 26,880
Total population: 6,245,466

Oregon

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.38%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 16,355
Total population: 4,272,371

Maine

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.38%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 5,342
Total population: 1,405,012

Kansas

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.34%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 10,211
Total population: 2,970,606

Kentucky

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.34%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 15,768
Total population: 4,588,372

Arizona

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.34%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 25,840
Total population: 7,582,384

Pennsylvania

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.33%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 43,178
Total population: 13,078,751

Vermont

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.33%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 2,136
Total population: 648,493

Mississippi

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.32%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 9,419
Total population: 2,943,045

Texas

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.31%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 95,987
Total population: 31,290,831

Tennessee

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.31%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 22,087
Total population: 7,227,750

Nebraska

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.28%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 5,700
Total population: 2,005,466

Ohio

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.27%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 32,224
Total population: 11,883,304

Nevada

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.26%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 8,632
Total population: 3,267,467

Rhode Island

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.26%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 2,884
Total population: 1,112,308

California

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.25%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 100,243
Total population: 39,431,263

North Carolina

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.25%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 27,191
Total population: 11,046,024

Louisiana

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.24%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 11,022
Total population: 4,597,740

Massachusetts

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.24%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 17,066
Total population: 7,136,171

New Hampshire

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.23%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 3,274
Total population: 1,409,032

Florida

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.22%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 51,340
Total population: 23,372,215

New York

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.21%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 42,193
Total population: 19,867,248

Illinois

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.21%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 26,780
Total population: 12,710,158

Arkansas

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.21%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 6,454
Total population: 3,088,354

South Carolina

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.20%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 10,891
Total population: 5,478,831

Indiana

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.18%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 12,428
Total population: 6,924,275

Minnesota

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.18%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 10,188
Total population: 5,793,151

Michigan

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.16%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 16,443
Total population: 10,140,459

New Jersey

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.16%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 14,854
Total population: 9,500,851

Iowa

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.16%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 5,064
Total population: 3,241,488

Delaware

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.15%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 1,568
Total population: 1,051,917

Wisconsin

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.13%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 7,598
Total population: 5,960,975

Connecticut

Percent of total population estimated to be furloughed: 0.07%
Estimated number of federal furloughs: 2,727
Total population: 3,675,069

Data and Methodology

SmartAsset ranked 50 states based on the estimated per-capita furloughs due to the October 2025 federal government shutdown. Data for federal employment comes from the FedScope Employment Summary Data from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for March 2025. Departments with at least 1,000 listed employees at that time were considered.

Furlough rate estimates for each department were derived from publicly available funding contingency plans (or, in the case of the Government Printing Office, based on the most recent historical precedent in the 2013 shutdown). Population estimates come from the U.S. Census Bureau 1-Year American Community Survey for 2024.

Key Findings

Federal Furloughs by State, Federal Government Shutdown 2025

Data and Methodology

Questions about this study? Contact us at press@smartasset.com