USDA has made the decision to move employees out of Washington, D.C. and into regional hubs with Indianapolis being one of the new homes starting in 2026. Stephen Vaden, USDA Deputy Secretary, shares how employees’ lives are the focus when looking into the timing of the move to the Indianapolis regional hub.
“We want to ensure that we are going to be the least disruptive to their lives as possible and part of that includes taking account of the school year. We want the children of those employees who will move to be able to complete their school year here in the Washington D.C. area and then be in place in time to take part in their new school system in their new home moving forward.”
Vaden says retention is key. They want to keep the institutional knowledge of their valued employees.
“We want to keep our employees. The only way we can do that is to put them in places where the government salary ensures a quality-of-life commensurate with what we would all want. Indiana is one of those places and I’m excited about the move we will be making there in the coming year.”
Cost of living and quality of life are just some of the many benefits of the move to regional hubs for USDA. Vaden is working to travel to each of the new locations to ensure this.
“It is important for me as Deputy Sectary to personally lay eyes on the offices we will be sending our employees to so that I can be satisfied it is a place I would want to work. We want to ensure they will have the great quality of life and lower cost of living that is the genesis of all of this. Indiana is an important part of that.”
USDA says Washington, D.C. will still serve as the headquarters but only 2,000 of the current 4,600 employees will remain there. Raleigh, North Carolina; Kansas City, Missouri; Fort Collins, Colorado; and Salt Lake City, Utah will serve as the other four regional hub locations for the USDA.
