Washington · NAICS 92 · Annual, 2025
Public Administration in Washington
Employment, establishments and average pay for NAICS 92 in Washington, 2004–2025, from DTG's QCEW-based estimates.
In 2025, Public Administration (NAICS 92) employed about 194,900 people in Washington across roughly 2,524 establishments, with average annual pay of $99,870.
Employment in Public Administration in Washington grew 14.5% from 2020 to 2025. Employment reached its 2004–2025 peak in 2025, at about 194,900. Quarterly values, full industry detail and projections to 2036 for Washington are included with a free account. County-level detail is part of every paid plan, or one county free for seven days.
- 194,900Employment, 2025
- 2,524Establishments
- $99,870Avg. annual pay
- 5.4%Share of Washington jobs
- 1.07Location quotient
Employment, 2004 to 2025
Annual average · all ownerships
Annual employment, 2004–2025: 2004 155,100; 2005 155,900; 2006 156,300; 2007 158,800; 2008 164,800; 2009 165,600; 2010 165,700; 2011 160,300; 2012 158,600; 2013 156,600; 2014 157,100; 2015 158,700; 2016 162,000; 2017 164,500; 2018 167,000; 2019 170,500; 2020 170,200; 2021 171,100; 2022 173,500; 2023 181,500; 2024 194,000; 2025 194,900.
Last ten years
Annual · 10 years
| Year | Employment | Estab. | Avg. annual pay | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 194,910 | 2,524 | $99,871 | 0.5% | pub. |
| 2024 | 193,971 | 2,489 | $94,158 | 6.9% | pub. |
| 2023 | 181,544 | 2,438 | $91,337 | 4.7% | pub. |
| 2022 | 173,478 | 2,376 | $86,499 | 1.4% | pub. |
| 2021 | 171,120 | 2,282 | $82,231 | 0.5% | pub. |
| 2020 | 170,246 | 2,250 | $79,496 | 0.2% | pub. |
| 2019 | 170,536 | 2,240 | $75,670 | 2.1% | pub. |
| 2018 | 166,963 | 2,151 | $73,170 | 1.5% | pub. |
| 2017 | 164,531 | 2,144 | $70,657 | 1.6% | pub. |
| 2016 | 161,993 | 2,127 | $68,166 | 2.1% | pub. |
The full history from 2004 and quarterly values are available with a free account.
By subsector, 2025
3-digit NAICS · 8 shown
| Code | Subsector | Employment | Share of public administration | LQ | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 921 | Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support | 88,440 | 45.4% | 1.16 | pub. |
| 922 | Justice, Public Order, and Safety Activities | 34,144 | 17.5% | 0.76 | pub. |
| 923 | Administration of Human Resource Programs | 33,311 | 17.1% | 1.60 | pub. |
| 924 | Administration of Environmental Quality Programs | 10,835 | 5.6% | 1.27 | pub. |
| 925 | Administration of Housing Programs, Urban Planning, and Community Development | 1,371 | 0.7% | 0.55 | pub. |
| 926 | Administration of Economic Programs | 15,492 | 8.0% | 1.04 | pub. |
| 927 | Space Research and Technology | 30 | 0.0% | 0.07 | pub. |
| 928 | National Security and International Affairs | 11,287 | 5.8% | 0.80 | pub. |
Where these numbers come from
Reading these figures
The figures on this page come from one named vintage, stated below, and are annual values for all ownerships combined. Where QCEW withheld a value, the marked figure is an estimate that DTG produced under the constraints of the published record; suppression is a property of QCEW, not of DTG, and a withheld value is marked rather than silently omitted. Two things DTG itself holds back, and says so where it does: an estimate that cannot be given a reliability score is not shown, and average pay is not shown where fewer than three jobs are reported. The row is marked withheld, with the reason in a note beneath the table. The mark is on every row that carries a value: the headline, the yearly history, the subsectors and the other states. An estimated value that rounds below one is shown as less than one, not as zero. Quarterly figures, county figures and projected years are in the app.
How this figure was built
Employment is the average of the three monthly counts in each quarter, averaged across the year, and establishments are averaged across the year the same way. Average annual pay is the year’s total wages divided by that average employment. Each of these is DTG’s value: QCEW’s published figure where QCEW disclosed it, and DTG’s estimate, marked, where it did not. How withheld values are estimated, and what the reliability score beside a figure means, are described on the industry data and disclosure and provenance pages.
Notes
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Public Administration in Washington, quarterly, at full depth
This page shows annual figures for public administration in Washington. A free account shows every detailed industry beneath it, quarterly, for every state, with projections to ten years. No card.
County figures, file export and the API are on paid plans.