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Understand Idaho

Idaho state employees

22,045

Idaho state government employees, fiscal year 2025

+4.3% since fiscal year 2024 (21,132); +6.6% since fiscal year 2020 (20,679)

Source: Transparent Idaho, Office of the Idaho State Controller, Idaho Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, Statistical Section, Fiscal Year 2025. Data period fiscal year 2025. Published .

Full-time state employee headcount as of fiscal year end, statewide, as reported by the Office of the Idaho State Controller. Not a full-time-equivalent (FTP) count. Source: ACFR Schedule 14.

Change and comparison

From fiscal year 2016 (19,637) to fiscal year 2025 (22,045), the change was +12.3%.

The latest figure, fiscal year 2025, is the highest in the series, which begins in fiscal year 2016.

Among 50 states, Idaho ranked 41st highest in 2025 on state government employment from the U.S. Census Bureau. California was highest at 518,197 and Wyoming lowest at 12,870.

Among Idaho and its 6 neighboring states, Idaho ranks 5th highest; Nevada is next above at 31,225 and Montana next below at 21,977.

Historical data

Idaho state employees, FY2016 to FY2025Idaho state employees, FY2016 to FY2025. Idaho: 19,637 in fiscal year 2016, 22,045 in fiscal year 2025.010k20k30k20202025IdahoPeopleIdaho state employees, FY2016 to FY2025Idaho state employees, FY2016 to FY2025. Idaho: 19,637 in fiscal year 2016, 22,045 in fiscal year 2025.010k20k30k20202025IdahoPeopleIdaho state employees, FY2016 to FY2025Idaho state employees, FY2016 to FY2025. Idaho: 19,637 in fiscal year 2016, 22,045 in fiscal year 2025.010k20k30k20162018202020222024IdahoPeople

Source: Transparent Idaho, Office of the Idaho State Controller, Idaho Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, Statistical Section, Fiscal Year 2025. Published .

Data table (10 rows)
PeriodIdaho (people)
fiscal year 201619,637
fiscal year 201720,174
fiscal year 201820,201
fiscal year 201920,354
fiscal year 202020,679
fiscal year 202120,369
fiscal year 202220,165
fiscal year 202320,861
fiscal year 202421,132
fiscal year 202522,045

Compared with other states

Every state is compared on state government employment from the U.S. Census Bureau: Full-time-equivalent state government employment, all governmental functions combined, for the pay period including March 12 of the survey year.

  1. United States4,698,433
  2. California518,197
  3. Texas338,023
  4. Washington149,381
  5. Oregon87,319
  6. Utah74,946
  7. Nevada31,225
  8. Idaho26,543
  9. Montana21,977
  10. South Dakota14,474
  11. Vermont14,152
  12. Wyoming12,870

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Survey of Public Employment & Payroll. Data period 2025.

The first 10 of 51 rows; the full table is below.

State2025
1. United States4,698,433
2. California518,197
3. Texas338,023
4. New York253,090
5. Florida186,109
6. Pennsylvania155,618
7. Michigan154,323
8. Washington149,381
9. North Carolina147,085
10. Ohio145,099
Data table (51 rows)
State2025
1. United States4,698,433
2. California518,197
3. Texas338,023
4. New York253,090
5. Florida186,109
6. Pennsylvania155,618
7. Michigan154,323
8. Washington149,381
9. North Carolina147,085
10. Ohio145,099
11. Virginia137,425
12. Illinois133,681
13. New Jersey131,451
14. Georgia128,023
15. Massachusetts113,622
16. Maryland106,308
17. Colorado105,147
18. Alabama100,062
19. Indiana92,817
20. Minnesota89,211
21. Oregon87,319
22. Missouri85,398
23. South Carolina85,241
24. Arizona80,998
25. Tennessee80,876
26. Kentucky80,293
27. Utah74,946
28. Louisiana74,424
29. Wisconsin68,661
30. Oklahoma64,968
31. Arkansas62,712
32. Kansas62,464
33. Connecticut59,975
34. Hawaii58,108
35. Mississippi53,704
36. Iowa53,320
37. New Mexico49,672
38. West Virginia39,483
39. Nebraska37,055
40. Nevada31,225
41. Delaware26,863
42. Idaho26,543
43. Alaska25,419
44. Montana21,977
45. Maine21,523
46. Rhode Island21,235
47. North Dakota19,183
48. New Hampshire18,680
49. South Dakota14,474
50. Vermont14,152
51. Wyoming12,870

Source

Organization
Transparent Idaho, Office of the Idaho State Controller
Dataset
Idaho Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, Statistical Section, Fiscal Year 2025
Geography
Idaho (statewide)
Time coverage
FY2016-FY2025
Update frequency
Annual
Published
Original file
https://www.sco.idaho.gov/CAFRDocuments/2025%20Annual%20Comprehensive%20Financial%20Report.pdf
Methodology
https://www.sco.idaho.gov/CAFRDocuments/2025%20Annual%20Comprehensive%20Financial%20Report.pdf
License
Public domain. State of Idaho government work.
Our copy
Idaho Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, Statistical Section, Fiscal Year 2025, built by scripts/fetch-transparent-idaho-acfr.py

Caveats

  • Spending figures are actual expenditure on the modified accrual basis for governmental funds only; they exclude proprietary funds and component units, in thousands of dollars.
  • The source labels its FY2024 spending column '(as restated)'; FY2024 spending observations carry a note saying so.
  • state_employees is full-time headcount only, excluding part-time and temporary employees; the FY2024 count reflects a 2024 change of financial systems.
  • Dashboard-only figures on transparent.idaho.gov (vendor payment, agency transaction, and pay tools) are not part of this dataset; only the ACFR PDF was used.
  • principal_employer_share figures are percent of total state employment as of June 30, 2016 and 2025, a calendar-year average except the State of Idaho's own count (as of January 9, 2025).
  • Schedule 12's underlying employee counts are published only as ranges, never a single figure; percentages are stored as observations, ranges are kept in records only.

Where sources disagree

  • Total state expenditures (governmental funds, actual), Idaho, FY2025: idaho-lso publishes 12,983,836.2. This dataset's FY2025 total (15,233,737 usd_thousands) is actual expenditure for governmental funds only, on the modified accrual (GAAP) basis, from the ACFR. The Legislative Services Office's 2026 Legislative Fiscal Report reports FY2025 actual expenditure of $12,983,836,200 (12,983,836.2 usd_thousands) on the state's budgetary basis, 'All Funds' (General, dedicated, and federal funds tracked through the appropriation process), which excludes the ACFR's proprietary funds and component units and uses cash/encumbrance appropriation accounting rather than modified accrual. Both figures are real and correctly sourced; they answer different questions about the same fiscal year.

State comparison:

Organization
U.S. Census Bureau
Dataset
Annual Survey of Public Employment & Payroll
Geography
Nation and every state (the District of Columbia has no state-government row in this survey; see caveats)
Time coverage
1992-2025
Update frequency
Annual
Published
not stated
Original file
https://api.census.gov/data/timeseries/govsemp
Methodology
https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/apes/technical-documentation/methodology/25_methodology.pdf
License
Public domain. U.S. federal government work.
Our copy
Annual Survey of Public Employment & Payroll, built by scripts/fetch-census-aspep.py

Caveats

  • ASPEP measures full-time-equivalent employment for the pay period including March 12, not the ACFR's June 30 full-time headcount; the two are different statistics.
  • FTE before 2019 summed full-time employees and part-time hours reported; from 2019 on, part-time hours are not collected and FTE is modeled from 2014-2018 data.
  • The Census Bureau did not conduct ASPEP in 1996; no observation exists for that year.
  • The District of Columbia has no state-government row: ASPEP classifies its government entirely as local, not state.

Where sources disagree

  • State government employment (FTE), Idaho, 2025: transparent-idaho publishes 22,045. The Census Bureau's Annual Survey of Public Employment and Payroll gives Idaho state government 26,543 full-time-equivalent employees for the pay period including March 12, 2025, versus 22,045 state employees in the FY2025 ACFR (dataset transparent-idaho-acfr, government.state_employees). The survey counts every state government unit including higher education and computes full-time equivalents from hours; the ACFR reports its own headcount on its own basis and date. Both are kept.

Cite

Cite this page as Understand Idaho, “Idaho state employees”, https://understandidaho.com/government/state-employees/, retrieved on the date you read it, and the publisher named above for the figures themselves. The dataset behind it is described in the data catalog.

This page was last updated .