Last Updated: September 16, 2026 Reading Time: 8 min
The government paid roughly 129,000 federal employees not to work for 5 to 9 months, and the bill lands somewhere between $11 billion and $15 billion. That works out to about $117,000 per departure at the high end. Nobody else has published the per-employee math, so we did.
The Numbers, and Who Actually Produced Them
Two documents got merged in most coverage, and the distinction matters if you're citing this.
GAO-26-108583 (released June 17, 2026) is the official workforce count: 22 major agencies, December 2024 through January 2026. It found 378,000 separations, 127,000 hires, and a net decline from 2.27 million to 2.01 million employees. It counted 129,000 DRP departures and described the program's paid administrative leave as lasting "usually 5 to 9 months." GAO published no cost figure.
Public Citizen's analysis (June 18, 2026) of OPM data supplied the dollars: $11.1 billion at the low end, $15.1 billion at the high end, covering salary and benefits paid to DRP participants while they weren't working. FedWeek's "up to $15B" headline traces there, not to GAO. Back in April, the first estimate put the figure at $4.5 billion; the newer analyses roughly tripled it as the full leave durations became visible.
Put them together and you get the table below.
GAO's Own Number: $6.7 Billion in Salary
Update, September 16, 2026. GAO has now published a cost figure of its own. In GAO-26-108477 (released September 15, 2026), GAO estimates that agencies in its review spent $9.5 billion in salary on paid administrative leave in 2025, "a sixfold increase from 2023," and that "about $6.7 billion of that amount was associated with deferred resignation program." GAO's figure covers salary only, the 76 agencies that supplied payroll data, and calendar 2025; Public Citizen's $11.1 billion to $15.1 billion range covers salary plus benefits on its own population, period, and assumptions. The two are not directly comparable, and benefits alone do not explain the gap. GAO also reports that about 144,312 employees in its analyzed agencies used DRP administrative leave, so $6.7 billion works out to roughly $46,000 per participant in leave salary (FedTools calculation on two GAO figures for the same population, rounded to the nearest thousand). Our full write-up of the GAO report covers the data problems GAO flagged in the numbers.
The Per-Employee Math
| Scenario | Total cost | Divided by | Per employee |
|---|---|---|---|
| High estimate, per DRP separation | $15.1B | 129,000 (GAO) | $117,054 |
| High estimate, per enrolled participant | $15.1B | 139,628 (OPM) | $108,134 |
| Low estimate, per enrolled participant | $11.1B | 139,628 (OPM) | $79,494 |
For context, the government already had a tool for paying people to leave: the Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment, capped at $25,000 since roughly 1993. If all 129,000 DRP separations had instead taken a maximum VSIP, the total would have been about $3.2 billion.
That makes the DRP roughly 4.6 times more expensive per separation than the statutory buyout, with the difference paid out as months of salary and benefits for employees who had already agreed to leave. (Whether VSIP alone could have induced 129,000 departures is a fair counterargument; the $25,000 cap is widely seen as too low, which is what H.R. 7256 tries to fix.)
Where the Workforce Actually Shrank
The 11.3% headline hides enormous agency-level variance:
| Agency | Change | Source basis |
|---|---|---|
| Education | -45.6% (4,273 → 2,326) | GAO direct |
| GSA | -36.8% | GAO direct |
| HUD | -30.5% | GAO direct |
| Energy | -29.4% | GAO direct |
| DoD civilian | -10.7% (778,188 → 695,248) | GAO direct |
| DHS | -1% | GAO direct |
| USAID | ~-95% | Derived from OPM FedScope |
| SBA | ~-37% | Derived from OPM FedScope |
| OPM | ~-33.9% | Derived from OPM FedScope |
| NSF | ~-32.5% | Derived from OPM FedScope |
DoD deserves its own line: 59% of its second-half 2025 separations went through the DRP, against 34% government-wide. The Pentagon leaned on the program harder than anyone, which is part of why GAO separately dinged DOD for never assessing what the cuts did to capability. Navy civilians weighing a current DRP offer can check eligibility and payment math against their own service branch in the Navy DRP eligibility and payment decision guide.
We track the running agency-by-agency picture in our ranked workforce cuts analysis and the State of the Federal Workforce report.
What This Means If You're Still In
Three practical readings for current feds:
- The voluntary era is winding down; the fiscal deadline isn't. 83% of separations so far were voluntary. But agencies that still have unmet reduction targets when FY2027 starts October 1 face pressure to use involuntary tools instead. Know your baseline with the Severance Pay Calculator before anyone hands you paperwork.
- Don't expect another DRP at these terms. A program that cost 4.6x the statutory buyout, drew a public $15 billion price tag, and triggered congressional scrutiny is unlikely to return in the same form. The cheaper tools (VERA, VSIP at $25,000, and RIFs) are what remain. If you're eligible, check the VERA Eligibility Checker and our fall 2026 agency tracker.
- Backfills aren't coming. With replacement hiring running at roughly 1 hire per 4 departures, the workload from 256,000 departed employees is being redistributed to those who stayed.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much did the Deferred Resignation Program cost?
Between $11.1 billion and $15.1 billion, per Public Citizen's analysis of OPM data. The money went to salary and benefits for employees on administrative leave, usually 5 to 9 months. GAO's June report documents the headcount but includes no cost figure. GAO's September 15, 2026 report (GAO-26-108477) later estimated about $6.7 billion in salary costs for DRP administrative leave across the agencies it reviewed; that figure and Public Citizen's differ in benefit coverage, population, period, and method, so they are not directly comparable.
How many federal employees took the DRP?
GAO counted 129,000 DRP separations through January 2026. OPM enrollment records show about 139,600 participants total.
What does that work out to per employee?
About $117,000 per separation at the high-end estimate using GAO's 129,000 separations (about $108,000 on Public Citizen's own count of roughly 139,600 participants), or about $79,000 per participant at the low end. The standard VSIP buyout is capped at $25,000.
How much has the federal workforce shrunk overall?
A net 256,000 employees (11.3%) across 22 major agencies from December 2024 to January 2026, with 83% of separations voluntary.
Which agencies shrank the most?
Education (-45.6%), GSA (-36.8%), HUD (-30.5%), and Energy (-29.4%) per GAO. FedScope-derived figures also show USAID near -95% and SBA near -37%. DHS was nearly flat at -1%.
Related Resources
- Severance Pay Calculator: Your baseline if reductions turn involuntary
- VERA Eligibility Checker: The 50/20 and any/25 rules in 30 seconds
- VERA/VSIP Fall 2026 Agency Tracker: Which agencies are likely to offer early outs next
- Federal Agency Workforce Cuts, Ranked: The running agency-by-agency scoreboard
- State of the Federal Workforce 2026: Our flagship data report
Sources: GAO-26-108583, Public Citizen: the $11 billion resignation program, FedWeek coverage, DefenseScoop on the Pentagon numbers, NARFE analysis.