A survey by Gallup and the Greater Washington Community Foundation found about two-thirds of D.C. residents said federal job cuts directly affected their household; 58% of $90,000-plus households reported an impact, versus 48% of lower-income households.
Across Greater Washington, 14% said they or someone in their household used food banks or job-placement help for the first time in the past year; the share was about one-quarter among households below $90,000. Roughly 2 in 10 reported times they couldn't pay for food, and about the same share couldn't pay for health care; 1 in 10 couldn't provide adequate housing. Former USDA policy writer Sam Trumbull said she applied for public aid after accepting deferred resignation under threat of reorganization; she found part-time work a year later, and her family brought home $2,000 a month in the meantime.
Only about half of Greater Washington residents rated local availability of good jobs as excellent or good, down from 65% in 2023. In D.C., 14% said they were considering leaving the region within a year; most cited rising costs and housing. The 2,801-person mail survey of Greater Washington adults used random address-based sampling and ran Feb. 9 to April 6, 2026, with a margin of sampling error of ±2.6 percentage points.
