Survey Finds Federal Job Cuts Hit Affluent DC Households Hardest

A new survey has found that last year's federal workforce overhaul has left deep scars across the Washington, DC region, with layoffs and grant cuts disrupting households in one of the country's most affluent areas.

The Gallup and Greater Washington Community Foundation survey, released Thursday, found that about two-thirds of District of Columbia residents said their household had been directly affected by the job cuts — one of the highest shares in the region. The District accounted for a fifth of the roughly 100,000 job losses recorded locally, official figures show, and remains host to an ongoing National Guard deployment.

More affluent households reported being hit especially hard. Among those earning $90,000 or more a year, 58% said they were impacted by the reductions, compared with 48% of lower-income households.

Sam Trumbull, who earned over $130,000 annually at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, took a deferred resignation after the Department of Government Efficiency moved on her job. She found only part-time work a year later, and in the interim sought a mortgage forbearance and applied for public assistance. She and her husband brought home about $2,000 a month while accumulating debt, she said, and she took contract work and teaching assignments to cover her children's needs.

Amanda Nataro, a 42-year-old single mother of two, asked her landlord for a rent reduction after losing her job at USAID, an early target of the cuts. She signed up for food stamps and unemployment assistance and quickly found work in academia, but at a substantial pay cut. She said she has not taken personal effects to her new office and has not unboxed her belongings.

"It wasn't just about our jobs being gone. It was really this awful ripple effect of all these lives and destinies really disrupted," Nataro said.

The survey points to broader hardship. About 14% of residents said they or someone in their household accessed social services such as food banks or job placement support for the first time in the past year, rising to about a quarter of those in households earning under $90,000. Roughly two in ten said there were times they could not pay for healthcare, and about one in ten said they could not provide adequate shelter or housing for their family. About two in ten reported times when they could not pay for food.

A separate Capital Area Food Bank survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago last year also found broad food insecurity, with 38% of area residents saying they needed support to put food on their tables.

Optimism about the local job market has faded. Only about half of residents rated the availability of good jobs where they live as excellent or good, down from 65% in 2023. About one-third expect living conditions in the Washington area to worsen over the next five years, while about half expect them to stay about the same and only about two in ten expect improvement.

About one-third of residents said they are very or somewhat worried about paying rent or mortgage, down from about half in 2023. Renters, Black and Hispanic adults, and lower-income residents reported particular concern about housing payments.

About 14% of District residents said they are considering leaving the region within the next year, with most citing rising costs and housing expenses.

Nicoletta Barbera and her husband both worked at the U.S. Institute of Peace, where staff were fired twice amid court decisions. A year and a half after their March 2025 dismissal, the couple are weighing a move because of rising costs, especially childcare for their three children. Both now work full-time consulting jobs but earn half of what they did before, Barbera said. The two had a combined 30 years at the peace-focused organization.

"This is the only place they've lived," Barbera said of her children. "We don't want to leave. But we have to have the conversation."

The VoicesDMV analysis is based on a mail survey of U.S. adults aged 18 and older in the Greater Washington region, using random address-based sampling. The survey of 2,801 residents was conducted from Feb. 9 to April 6, 2026, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points for the full sample.