Public Servant Pulse
A first-of-its-kind national survey of U.S. state and local government employees
See the 2026 Public Servant Pulse results
Public Servant Pulse is an annual national survey on the experiences, perspectives, and challenges of U.S. state and local public servants.
We measure different facets of the employee experience including workplace satisfaction, employee engagement, and burnout; predictors of employee experience, such as psychological safety, belonging, and team and supervisor relationships; and mindsets that may affect or be influenced by the workplace, like views of government and residents.
By aggregating results nationwide, we create benchmarks that give government leaders a tool to better understand their workforces, and identify both challenges and pockets of excellence that will help improve service delivery.
What public servants are saying:
“I work in wastewater treatment... The vast majority of people flush their toilets and never give it a second thought, and most aren’t aware the plant exists, both of which are a testament to how well we perform. That is fulfillment.”
“The length of time it takes to fill positions often causes applicants to find a job elsewhere. This leads to higher vacancies and higher caseloads for the workers who remain employed with the state. Burnout in my field is extremely high and these issues continue to cause massive issues with employment.”
“The tone, structure, and priorities set by department and city leadership have a huge impact on the day-to-day experience of the job and the ability for individuals and the department as a whole to make a difference for constituents.”
“Members of the public can be extremely abusive, and at times scary. I previously worked in the private sector and took pride in my customer service skills. Since working in government, I need to screen all my phone calls and be extremely cautious when meeting with anyone in person.”
“I believe in the mission of public service. I run a maternal health program that does not need to make money for an investor, and I am not beholden to the whims of a foundation board of directors’ thoughts on what to fund. Also, my health insurance is $50/month.”
“It’s a mix of selfish and altruistic reasons. The selfish: job security and benefits. The altruistic: I love walking through my community and seeing all of the things City employees impact positively. The trash in my neighborhood is collected by my coworkers, the parks are maintained by my coworkers, the potholes and sidewalks are repaired by my coworkers.”
“I want people to see us as people and not [government] workers. People doing the job with dignity and professionalism.”
“The library was my safe space growing up. I enjoy being the place where people can ask dumb questions without judgement and promoting the love of stories. I don’t like to sell people things. I just want to help them do what they already want/need to do.”
“I like to help people that are in need of help, sometimes people who break the law are in need of help, and don’t realize it.”
“Government often handles the most complicated, thorniest issues that really matter to people – and to help solve the problems that actually make a difference in people’s lives.”
“I would like the public to know that when public sector wages are historically depressed and stagnant, the stereotype of slow moving, non-caring ‘public sector employee’ increases. To put it in other words, you get what you pay for.”
“I truly love my job, love my coworkers, love my leadership, my director, the creative opportunities and the community that I serve. I am just struggling to survive in the city that I serve.”
“I’m not motivated by altruism, rather, I perform a value added service that I’m compensated for. The latter determined by a competitive labor market. Same as my private sector counterpart who also serve the public directly or indirectly.”
“The spectrum of ‘government help vs self-reliance’ is the wrong way to think about government. People help themselves by forming governments to act collectively on behalf of the whole community’s needs, including everyone in it. We’re a social species. Governments do what individuals can’t.”
“I wanted to have the opportunity to help the community. Knowing that my work matters and that children benefit from the work I do everyday is so important to me. I wanted job security, retirement benefits, and leave that would allow me to be a mom, wife, and daughter when needed.”
“When someone needs help using their phone, printing a document, filling out a job application, applying for food stamps, deciding which health insurance to buy, filing their taxes, or gathering evidence for a court case—all of which they have to do to survive!—someone in the private sector cheerfully tells them to ‘go to the library and they’ll help you/do it for you!’ I wish copy shops, workplaces, attorneys, and state and federal lawmakers understood that they haven’t eliminated the work of helping people, they’ve simply outsourced it to city governments and the libraries they fund.”
“Please let people know that there are so many people working in government that truly care about the residents (ALL residents). Bureaucrats are not just yes men for politicians, and the ways in which we approach our work are based on personal compassion and empathy.”
“Since COVID, it feels like there is a deep seeded anger — both towards government (however defined) and towards the community at large. My integrity as a public servant is almost always called into question, regularly there are assertions made that I am ‘paid off’, and it is always said with such disdain for public professionals. Trust has been lost, it feels, and I don’t know what government can do to regain this loss.”
“I wish people understood the amount of invisible labor that goes into providing them with the things they regard as basic living standards, like well-maintained roads, thriving economic districts, attractive and safe parks and public spaces, clean water, well-constructed and safe buildings, police and fire that come when you call”
“I love my job and the work that I do. There are many challenges, not enough time, resources or people to accomplish my team’s goals. I see the bigger picture of our mission and am driven to work towards it.”
“I think it’s really important to home in on the common structures that make public sector offices low satisfaction/happiness places to work: they prioritize job security and retirement benefits at the expense of providing a culture where employees are managed well, are challenged, develop their careers, collaborate and develop strong relationships with colleagues, develop transferable skills and career leverage to move to other sectors.”
“As a Black woman in city leadership, I want Black youth and other underrepresented community members to see that they can participate in public leadership, influence decisions, and have their voices taken seriously.”
“Being a public servant has been a gift. We don’t sell things to people that are bad for them. We don’t judge people based on where we assume they may be coming from. They bring us a problem; we turn our resources to helping.”
“I used to think that government wasn’t working well due to too much bureaucracy, but I now see that it’s that, combined with not enough people hired for the processes that are built.”
“I think public service can be incredibly rewarding, but I don’t think enough people understand just how hard it is. I am lucky in my current role, but in previous roles I have dealt with very abusive members of the public and elected officials. I have had to keep my cool in meetings where residents are simultaneously emailing me telling me it is not okay for City Councilors to talk to me like that.”
“I wish that I could live in the county I work for. Unfortunately, with my pay I am not able to afford even a studio apartment in a safe neighborhood within the county I work for.”
“I truly believe government, especially city government, must do much more work to help people understand how decisions are made in their communities. The amount of disinformation we encounter, especially with regards to development in neighborhoods that are experiencing gentrification, is extreme and makes our work harder.”
“It is an interesting time to work in local government. Trust in the federal government has been low for decades, but it seems to me that that has dripped down to local government in the past few years.”
“Our American democratic republic is a government of the people, by the people, for the people – and local government is where the application of those principles are most easily observed. While imperfect, it is still amazingly effective.”
“Some folks think government should act more like business. I think business should act more like government – take care of your most vulnerable, be adaptive leaders, don’t externalize your messes and costs for others (usually government) to clean up or fix, act with integrity and ethics, be servant leaders.”
“We often live in the community we serve. We have made a choice to work for our city, state, etc. We are not lazy, stupid, dishonest, or many of the other adjectives that are associated with city, county, state employees. Representing the public and protecting public rights is challenging and requires discipline and dedication.”
“The hard part about the work isn’t so much about the work itself. The hard part is that I have to work inside an incorrect paradigm about who deserves what. If our idea of what it means to provide for people were different, I think it wouldn’t be so hard to be in the work.”
Public Servant Pulse is generously funded by the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University.