# Largest US Federal Government centre outside DC area **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 26, 2014, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-us-federal-government-centre-outside-dc-area/708218 "2014-12-26T16:49:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-us-federal-government-centre-outside-dc-area/708218/1 "2014-12-26T16:49:24Z")
Inspired by the nuke DC thread. What place in the US has the highest proportion of US government installation outside DC. I mean government bodies, not military or judicial outposts. ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-us-federal-government-centre-outside-dc-area/708218/2 "2014-12-26T16:54:52Z")
Boston? It is the FBI headquarters for New England, there are several historic sites run by the national park service, and a federal reserve bank. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-us-federal-government-centre-outside-dc-area/708218/3 "2014-12-26T17:51:44Z")
I’d guess New York City. There’s the UN and a lot of other diplomatic staff there. You’ve got a lot of financial regulatory agencies centered there. Plus all of the usual federal government activity centered around a big city (as a trivia note, the Jacob Javits Building in Manhattan is the tallest federal office building in the country). One exception is military - there are no major armed forces bases in New York City (Fort Hamilton is more of an administrative and ceremonial base.). ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-us-federal-government-centre-outside-dc-area/708218/4 "2014-12-26T17:57:29Z")
A smartass answer would probably be Arlington, Virginia. A number of federal agencies which are commonly thought to be located in DC are in fact in Arlington. The most famous example is certainly the Pentagon. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-us-federal-government-centre-outside-dc-area/708218/5 "2014-12-26T17:59:30Z")
[Jacob K. Javits Federal Building](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_K._Javits_Federal_Building) in Manhattan? > [@](#): > > The Jacob K. Javits Federal Office Building at 26 Federal Plaza on Foley Square in the Civic Center district of Manhattan, New York City houses many Federal government agencies, and, at over 41 stories, is the tallest federal building in the United States. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-us-federal-government-centre-outside-dc-area/708218/6 "2014-12-26T18:46:15Z")
There are 283,000 Federal employees in the DC area. Second place is where you can guess: NYC and the surrounding area has about 56,700. Third is a surprise to me: Norfolk/Newport News at 45,000. Yes, those are only Federal civilian employees of the Executive Branch. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-us-federal-government-centre-outside-dc-area/708218/7 "2014-12-26T21:15:20Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Schnitte** : > > A smartass answer would probably be Arlington, Virginia. Only if the smartass didn’t read carefully enough. The OP specified “outside of the DC area”, and while the “DC area” is perhaps a bit nebulous, any reasonable definition of it will include Arlington. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-us-federal-government-centre-outside-dc-area/708218/8 "2014-12-26T23:41:58Z")
how about Ft Hood TX, IIRC something like 65,000 federal personnel there. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-us-federal-government-centre-outside-dc-area/708218/9 "2014-12-27T01:35:57Z")
> [@rsat3acr](#): > > how about Ft Hood TX, IIRC something like 65,000 federal personnel there. Those are probably military personnel and contractors, which the OP excludes. Killeen, TX is not in the top 50 cities with Federal civilians. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-us-federal-government-centre-outside-dc-area/708218/10 "2014-12-27T01:59:27Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Inspired by the nuke DC thread. > > What place in the US has the highest proportion of US government installation outside DC. I mean government bodies, not military or judicial outposts. The largest concentration of Federal Agencies outside of DC (which is how I read the question) is at the Denver Federal Center in Lakewood, CO. It’s not connected to the city proper but Denver controls the property. > [@](#): > > _Denver Federal Center, surrounded by the city Lakewood, Colorado, is part of the General Services Administration and is home to about 6,200 employees for many Federal government of the United States agencies. The Denver Federal Center encompasses an area of about 670 acres (2.7 km2) and has 90 buildings comprising over 4,000,000 square feet (400,000 m2) of office, warehouse, lab and special use space. There are 26 different Federal agencies on-site, making it the largest concentration of Federal agencies outside of Washington, D.C._ > **[Denver Federal Center](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver_Federal_Center)** > > The Denver Federal Center, in Lakewood, Colorado, is part of the General Services Administration and is home to about 6,200 employees of agencies of the federal government of the United States. The Center encompasses an area of about 670 acres (2.7 km2) and has 90 buildings with over 4,000,000 square feet (400,000 m2) of office, warehouse, lab and special use space. There are 28 different Federal agencies on-site, making it the largest concentration of Federal agencies outside of Washington, D.... ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-us-federal-government-centre-outside-dc-area/708218/11 "2014-12-27T02:25:37Z")
sorry I missed not military. pretty glaring error when I looked again ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-us-federal-government-centre-outside-dc-area/708218/12 "2014-12-27T12:30:03Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Only if the smartass didn’t read carefully enough. The OP specified “outside of the DC area”, and while the “DC area” is perhaps a bit nebulous, any reasonable definition of it will include Arlington. That’s what the thread title says. The actual question asked specified “outside DC”.