Index Links Workforce Cuts to Lower Federal Government Service Satisfaction Scores

The latest American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) finds citizen satisfaction with U.S. federal government services waning, linking the drop to recent cuts across the federal workforce.

The ACSI Federal Government Study 2026 asked more than 7,900 respondents to evaluate their recent experiences with federal government services. Overall, citizen satisfaction with those services dropped 2.6 percentage points to 68.6 (on a scale of 0 to 100). This dip marks the end of four consecutive years of improvement, according to ACSI.

This year’s survey saw decreases in all four satisfaction drivers that the index measures: customer service, process efficiency, website quality and information. Customer service took the biggest hit, according to ACSI, dropping 4% to 74.

These declines “come during a period of significant federal workforce change,” ACSI noted, pointing to the Department of Government Efficiency initiative that saw the federal workforce shrink by roughly 385,000 in the year ending January 2026.

“Organizational restructuring and significant staffing reductions played out across agencies throughout the fiscal year,” according to ACSI, “and citizens felt the effects at most service touchpoints.

With regard to how individual federal agencies fared, the Department of State posted the highest customer satisfaction score, at 77. The Small Business Administration saw the biggest decline, falling 9% to 67, “after a year of agencywide restructuring and a 43% workforce reduction,” ACSI noted.

“Federal agencies are being asked to do more with far fewer people, and citizens are noticing,” said Forrest Morgeson, associate professor of marketing at Michigan State University and director of research emeritus at the ACSI, in a statement.

“Sustained investment in digital service delivery can pay off even during a period of institutional change, but that kind of success requires years of development and consistent resourcing. Replicating it becomes difficult when agencies are simultaneously managing large-scale workforce reductions.”