Federal LinkedIn census shows civilian agency gains but DOD drops

My 14^th annual census of feds on LinkedIn shows a modest gain for defense, uniformed services, intelligence community and civilian agencies with an increase of just 13,299. That brings the total civilian and military LinkedIn members to 2,863,071.

For the first time ever, the civilian agency total exceeds DOD/military, with civilian agencies reaching 1,587,941 employees on LinkedIn. The study shows a total of 342 company pages for civilian agencies. DOD and military have 387 company pages.

The biggest deficits for DOD were in the uniformed services, and I am at a loss to explain the drop.

At 519,250, the U.S. Army had the largest member count of any federal or DOD component but was down 79,854 from the 2024 census. There are currently 106 company pages and 3 Showcase pages for the Army. Showcase pages don’t include employee counts but often contain interesting and sharable information, so I have included those I found.

The Air Force tally is 309,083 and is down 31,052 from the previous year. USAF has 40 company pages and 3 showcase pages.

The Navy has 275,088 with a net loss of 24,105. The Navy has the most company pages of any department or agency with 116 and 2 showcase pages.

The Marines have 129,986, down 8,856 from the previous year. USMC has 19 company pages and 2 showcase pages.

The US Space Force gained slightly with 5,884, a net gain of 899 with 8 company pages.

The Department of Defense and its many components totaled 145,919 with a net gain of 11,022 on 87 company pages. DOD also has 6 showcase pages.

Combined, DOD and the uniformed services have 387 company pages.

The civilian agencies have gains nearly everywhere, led by the Homeland Security Department with 125,265, a net gain of 36,077 over 2024. Civilian agencies came in at 1,587,941 on 342 company pages.

For 2025, there are 42 more total company pages than in 2024.

These counts are fluid as people update their profiles with new jobs, perhaps outside government or at a new agency.

With the incoming administration we are likely to see some significant shifts by mid-2025 and throughout the year.

I started the study 14 years ago because I got tired of hearing company executives telling me feds were not on LinkedIn, and it was only for people looking for jobs.

They were wrong on both counts.

The study, with all 729 company page URLs, is available as a Word document for a modest $245. Contact me for details at markamtower@gmail.com or reach out to me through LinkedIn.

Mark Amtower coaches government contractors on Leveraging LinkedIn. He has been writing for Washington Technology since 2009.