Office of the Secretary of Defense Federal Employee Pay and Staffing

March 2025 workforce snapshot. Office of the Secretary of Defense had 2,689 employees with an average salary of $165,575. It sits under the Department of Defense.

2,689 employees

$165,575 average pay

$445,231,175 estimated total salary expense

Miscellaneous Administration and Program largest occupation in the agency

What this page helps you check

Use this page when you want a quick feel for the size of Office of the Secretary of Defense, where its workforce is concentrated, and which occupations account for the largest share of employees.

Parent organization

This agency sits under the Department of Defense.

Largest occupations in Office of the Secretary of Defense

These occupation series account for the biggest share of employees reported under Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Occupation	Employees	Average pay	Share of agency
Miscellaneous Administration and Program	751	$129,514	27.9%
Management and Program Analysis	553	$179,250	20.6%
Foreign Affairs	227	$173,794	8.4%
Operations Research	142	$189,740	5.3%
General Engineering	101	$193,808	3.8%
Budget Analysis	100	$189,872	3.7%
Intelligence	52	$184,605	1.9%
Information Technology Management	49	$189,855	1.8%
Contracting	40	$182,166	1.5%
Program Management	38	$184,886	1.4%
Accounting	33	$177,897	1.2%
Logistics Management	28	$182,832	1.0%
General Attorney	28	$192,148	1.0%
Financial Administration and Program	24	$187,961	0.9%
Public Affairs	17	$172,662	0.6%
Security Administration	11	$187,409	0.4%

Where Office of the Secretary of Defense employees are based

This list shows the biggest duty-station states reported for Office of the Secretary of Defense in the latest OPM summary.

State	Employees	Average pay
Virginia	2,525	$165,019
California	25	$197,444
Florida	20	$170,124
Texas	14	$157,934

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Agency totals and duty-location summaries come from the latest OPM FedScope Employment Summary Data (March 2025).