About 26,300 federal workers were still actively covered by the Civil Service Retirement System as of September 30, 2023, according to the most recent actuarial valuation of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund. Of those, 20,400 were in the original CSRS plan and 5,900 were in CSRS Offset.1U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund Annual Report The number falls every year, and by any reasonable projection it now sits below 20,000.
For context, a Congressional Research Service report using FY2022 OPM data put the figure at 44,000, meaning the active CSRS population dropped by roughly 18,000 workers in a single year. CSRS participants now make up less than 1% of the roughly 2.8 million people in covered federal positions. The FY2022 CRS data had them at 1.6% of the covered workforce, and that share has only kept shrinking.2U.S. Congress. Federal Employees Retirement System: Summary of Recent Trends Significant federal workforce departures in 2025 make the current active count almost certainly well under 20,000, though the exact figure won’t be confirmed until OPM publishes its next actuarial report.
Why the Number Only Goes Down
CSRS has been closed to new entrants since the end of 1983. The Federal Employees’ Retirement System Act of 1986 created FERS and placed anyone hired on or after January 1, 1984, into either FERS or the transitional CSRS Offset arrangement. FERS launched fully in 1987. From that point on, CSRS was a fixed, closed pool that could only shrink.
The policy behind the change was straightforward: integrate the federal workforce with Social Security. CSRS employees don’t pay Social Security taxes on their federal earnings and don’t earn Social Security credits for that service. FERS employees do. Closing CSRS meant that over time the federal workforce would move entirely onto a system coordinated with Social Security and the Thrift Savings Plan.
Because no one new can join, every retirement, resignation, or death permanently reduces the headcount. The youngest possible CSRS employee was hired no later than December 31, 1983, so even the newest person in the system has been in federal service for more than 42 years.
Where CSRS Offset Fits
CSRS Offset covers a narrow group caught between the two systems. It generally applies to employees who were rehired after December 31, 1983, following a break in CSRS-covered service of more than one year, and who had at least five years of creditable civilian service as of January 1, 1987.3U.S. Office of Personnel Management. CSRS Offset Retirement Offset employees pay into both CSRS and Social Security while working. About 5,900 of the 26,300 remaining CSRS-covered employees fell into this category in the 2023 data.1U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund Annual Report
Who the Remaining CSRS Employees Are
The people still working under CSRS are, by definition, long-tenured federal employees. To be here at all, they had to be on the payroll before 1984, so most have careers stretching past four decades. Their ages generally begin in the early 60s and go up from there. Many hold senior positions, specialized technical roles, or institutional knowledge that’s hard to replace.
They aren’t staying because they have to. CSRS retirement eligibility requires only five years of creditable civilian service, a threshold every remaining worker cleared long ago.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 U.S.C. 8333 – Eligibility for Annuity They stay because the CSRS annuity formula rewards long service generously and each additional year at a peak salary pushes the eventual benefit higher. Unused sick leave is another quiet incentive: at retirement, unused sick hours convert into extra service credit for the annuity computation using a 2,087-hour work year, so roughly every 174 hours of banked leave adds a month of credit.5U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Credit for Unused Sick Leave Under the Civil Service Retirement System
One boundary worth noting: some special-category federal jobs carry mandatory separation ages. Law enforcement officers, firefighters, and customs and border protection officers must separate by age 57 (or after 20 years of service if already past 57), with exemptions available only until age 60. Air traffic controllers face mandatory separation at 56, with possible exemptions to 61.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 U.S.C. 8335 – Mandatory Separation In practice, virtually every CSRS employee in those roles has long since retired. The remaining CSRS workers are almost entirely in positions without a mandatory retirement age.
The Retiree Population Dwarfs the Active One
The active workforce is a rounding error next to the retiree rolls. In FY2022, more than 1.5 million people were receiving CSRS benefits: roughly 1.13 million retired employees and 381,000 survivors.2U.S. Congress. Federal Employees Retirement System: Summary of Recent Trends Those annuitants aren’t going anywhere soon. CSRS pensions are lifetime benefits, and survivor annuities continue to eligible spouses and former spouses after the retiree dies.
The fund backing those payments remains one of the largest trust funds managed by the federal government. OPM continues to administer it, process new retirement claims from the shrinking active population, and manage the investments that keep the fund solvent against decades of remaining obligations.
When CSRS Actually Ends
“The end of CSRS” describes two very different milestones, and they’re separated by more than half a century.
The active contribution phase is close to over. The decline from 44,000 in FY2022 to 26,300 in September 2023, and likely below 20,000 now, points to the last active employees separating within the next several years. Barring an unusual holdout, the early 2030s should mark the point at which no one is still contributing to the fund from a paycheck.
The payment phase runs much longer. OPM estimates that CSRS and CSRS Offset will formally terminate with the death of the last covered worker or survivor, projected to occur around 2090.7U.S. Congress. Federal Employees Retirement System: Benefits and Financing A survivor in their 50s drawing benefits today could live another 30 or 40 years, and that math pushes final payments well past mid-century. The system will keep writing checks long after the last CSRS employee clears out a desk.