With more than 800,000 federal workers staying home from work today thanks to the federal shutdown, some cities will soon feel the impact more than others.
Washington, D.C., will of course be hit the hardest, along with neighboring cities in Maryland and Virginia – but other cities throughout the country also have a sizeable percentage of workers who draw a federal paycheck.
SLIDE SHOW: 10 CITIES THAT MAY BE HARDEST HIT BY THE SHUTDOWN
Real estate website Trulia crunched the numbers in a recent blog post to create a list of the top 10 metro areas with the largest percentage of wages going to federal workers. Among the unexpected cities on the list: Honolulu, Hawaii, which has 11.2 percent of its local wages going to federal workers, and Dayton, Ohio, where 10.2 percent of wages are paid by the federal government.
At the other end of the spectrum, the least impacted places include Fairfield County, Conn.; San Jose, Calif.; and Allentown, Pa., where less than 1 percent of local wages go to federal workers.
Still, even cities with few federal workers will feel the shutdown, writes blog author Jed Kolko. “People and business there, like everywhere, depend on federal government services.”
GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN: A GUIDE FOR CONSUMERS
Agencies deemed essential to protect life and property or provide benefit payments will continue to operate with minimal employees, although they will not pay their workers. During the last shutdown in 1995, many furloughed workers received back pay once the shutdown ended.
It’s not clear whether Congress will do the same this time around. That three-week closing ended up costing $1.25 billion in today’s dollars.
Check out the 10 metro areas that may be hardest hit by the government shutdown.
