OPM.GOV APRIL 2017

 2016 

Senior Executive Service 

Report

United StateS Office Of PerSOnnel ManageMent
Senior Executive Service

Fiscal Year 2016 

This document provides a brief summary of federal employees in Senior Executive Service.

U.S. Office of Personnel Management 

Planning and Policy Analysis 

Data Analysis Group 
2 

Table of Contents 

Purpose ......................................................................................................................................................... 3

Data ............................................................................................................................................................... 3

Table 1. Senior Executive Service (SES) Appointments ......................................................................... 3

Table 2. Senior Executive Service (SES) Appointment Trends .............................................................. 3

Figure 1. Senior Executive Service (SES) Appointment Trends ............................................................. 4

Table 3. Senior Executive Service Agency ............................................................................................. 4

Table 4. Senior Executive Service Agency Trends ................................................................................. 5

Table 5. Senior Executive Service Age Trends ....................................................................................... 5

Figure 2. Senior Executive Service (SES) Age Trends ............................................................................ 6

Table 6. Senior Executive Service (SES) Gender .................................................................................... 6

Table 7. Senior Executive Service (SES) Gender Trends ........................................................................ 6

Figure 3. Senior Executive Service (SES) Gender Trends....................................................................... 7

Table 8. Senior Executive Service Ethnicity and Race ........................................................................... 7

Table 9. Senior Executive Service (SES) Ethnicity and Race Trends ...................................................... 8

Table 10. Senior Executive Service (SES) Education .............................................................................. 8

Table 11. Senior Executive Service (SES) Education Trends .................................................................. 9

Table 12. Senior Executive Service (SES) Length of Service (LOS) Trends ............................................. 9

Figure 4. Senior Executive Service (SES) Length of Service (LOS) Trends ...........................................10

Table 13. Senior Executive Service (SES) Salary Trends ......................................................................10

Figure 5. Senior Executive Service (SES) Salary Trends .......................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Table 14. Senior Executive Service (SES) Action Trends .....................................................................11

Figure 6. Senior Executive Service (SES) Action Trends ......................................................................12

Additional Details ........................................................................................................................................12
3 

Purpose 

This document presents an overview of the characteristics of the Senior Executive Service (SES), 

providing the public and analysts access to commonly requested descriptive information. 

This document presents basic data, in the form of tables and charts, on the current and historical 

composition of the Senior Executive Service. 

Data 

Table 1, Senior Executive Service (SES) Appointments, provides counts and percentages of SES 

employees broken down by type of appointment for Fiscal Year 2016. Nearly 90% of SES employees are 

career1. 

Table 1. Senior Executive Service (SES) Appointments 

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Year 2016 (FY2016) 

APPOINTMENT COUNT PERCENT 

UNSPECIFIED 2 0.02 

CAREER (SES PERMANENT) 7,321 89.76 

NONCAREER (SES PERMANENT) 737 9.04 

LIMITED TERM (SES NON-PERMANENT) 92 1.13 

LIMITED EMERGENCY (SES NON-PERMANENT) 4 0.05 

ALL 8,156 100.00 

Table 2, Senior Executive Service (SES) Appointment Trends, provides counts of SES employees for the 

last five Fiscal Years broken down by type of appointment. 

Table 2. Senior Executive Service (SES) Appointment Trends 

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2012 to 2016 (FY2012-FY2016) 

APPOINTMENT FY2012 FY2013 FY2014 FY2015 FY2016 

UNSPECIFIED 10 4 8 6 2 

CAREER (SES PERMANENT) 7,199 7,190 7,014 7,144 7,321 

NONCAREER (SES PERMANENT) 675 625 682 747 737 

LIMITED TERM (SES NON-PERMANENT) 117 93 96 84 92 

LIMITED EMERGENCY (SES NON-PERMANENT) 3 2 2 1 4 

ALL 8,004 7,914 7,802 7,982 8,156 

 

1

 The SES data in this report includes some SES that are not covered by 5 U.S.C. 3133. 
4 

Figure 1, Senior Executive Service (SES) Appointment Trends, is a graphical representation of the totals 

in Table 2. 

Figure 1. Senior Executive Service (SES) Appointment Trends 

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2012 to 2016 (FY2012-FY2016) 

Table 3, Senior Executive Service (SES) Agency, provides counts and percentages of SES employees by 

agency for all the Cabinet level agencies in Fiscal Year 2016. The table also has a category, “ALL OTHER 

AGENCIES” which contains all non-Cabinet level agencies. The Cabinet level agencies contain over three 

quarters of the SES employees. 

Table 3. Senior Executive Service Agency 

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Year 2016 (FY2016) 

AGENCY COUNT PERCENT 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 86 1.05 

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT 115 1.41 

DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE 182 2.23 

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 200 2.45 

DEPARTMENT OF STATE 204 2.50 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 231 2.83 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 258 3.16 

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY 261 3.20 

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY 326 4.00 

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 357 4.38 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 361 4.43 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 425 5.21 

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 458 5.62 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES 468 5.74 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 478 5.86 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 490 6.01 

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY 639 7.83 

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE 821 10.07 

ALL OTHER AGENCIES 1,796 22.02 

ALL 8,156 100.00 

 4,000

 4,500

 5,000

 5,500

 6,000

 6,500

 7,000

 7,500

 8,000

 8,500

FY2012 FY2013 FY2014 FY2015 FY2016

SES Count 

Fiscal Year 
5 

Table 4, Senior Executive Service (SES) Agency Trends, provides counts of SES employees broken down 

by agency for all the Cabinet level agencies for the last five fiscal years. The table also has a category, 

“ALL OTHER AGENCIES” which contains all non-Cabinet level agencies. 

Table 4. Senior Executive Service Agency Trends 

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2012 to 2016 (FY2012-FY2016) 

AGENCY FY2012 FY2013 FY2014 FY2015 FY2016 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 78 80 85 92 86 

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT 104 104 110 124 115 

DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE 181 176 158 179 182 

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 177 169 173 182 200 

DEPARTMENT OF STATE 189 190 183 191 204 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 231 221 227 235 231 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 270 256 242 253 258 

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY 266 279 281 271 261 

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY 318 316 305 318 326 

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 387 373 373 355 357 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 344 346 344 357 361 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 372 363 384 406 425 

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 493 474 464 461 458 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES 460 443 420 441 468 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 478 479 464 473 478 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 471 482 462 479 490 

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY 614 604 598 594 639 

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE 749 768 767 786 821 

ALL OTHER AGENCIES 1,822 1,791 1,762 1,785 1,796 

ALL 8,004 7,914 7,802 7,982 8,156 

Table 5, Senior Executive Service (SES) Age Trends, lists the age distribution of SES employees for the 

last five fiscal years. In addition to the average, the quartiles are listed in order. For Fiscal Year 

2016(FY2016), at the 25th percentile, 25% of SES employees are younger than 49.4; 75% of SES 

employees are older than 49.4. The interpretation is the same for the median, which is simply the 50th

percentile; for FY2016, 50% of SES employees are younger than 54.6, while 50% of SES employees are 

older than 54.6. For FY2016, the 75th percentile is 59.6; 75% of SES employees are younger than 59.6, 

while 25% of SES employees are older than 59.6.

Table 5. Senior Executive Service Age Trends 

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2012 to 2016 (FY2012-FY2016) 

FISCAL YEAR AVERAGE AGE 25TH PERCENTILE MEDIAN 75TH PERCENTILE 

2012 54.2 49.3 54.3 59.3 

2013 54.2 49.3 54.4 59.4 

2014 54.3 49.4 54.5 59.4 

2015 54.3 49.4 54.6 59.5 

2016 54.3 49.4 54.6 59.6 
6 

Figure 2, Senior Executive Service (SES) Age Trends, is a graphical representation of Table 5. Figure 2 

shows that the age statistics have been slowly increasing over the last five fiscal years. 

Figure 2. Senior Executive Service (SES) Age Trends 

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2012 to 2016 (FY2012-FY2016) 

Table 6, Senior Executive Service (SES) Gender, provides counts and percentages of SES employees 

broken down by gender for Fiscal Year 2016. Nearly 65% of SES employees are male. 

Table 6. Senior Executive Service (SES) Gender 

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Year 2016 (FY2016) 

GENDER COUNT PERCENT 

FEMALE 2,891 35.45 

MALE 5,264 64.54 

ALL 8,156 100.00 

Table 7, Senior Executive Service (SES) Gender Trends, provides counts of SES employees for the last five 

fiscal years broken down by gender. 

Table 7. Senior Executive Service (SES) Gender Trends 

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2012 to 2016 (FY2012-FY2016) 

FISCAL YEAR FEMALE MALE ALL 

2012 2,678 5,326 8,004 

2013 2,666 5,248 7,914 

2014 2,649 5,153 7,802 

2015 2,750 5,232 7,982 

2016 2,891 5,264 8,156 

47.0

49.0

51.0

53.0

55.0

57.0

59.0

61.0

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

SES Age 

Fiscal Year 

AVERAGE AGE

25TH PERCENTILE

MEDIAN

75TH PERCENTILE
7 

Figure 3, Senior Executive Service (SES) Gender Trends, is a graphical representation of Table 7. 

Figure 3. Senior Executive Service (SES) Gender Trends 

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2012 to 2016 (FY2012-FY2016) 

Table 8, Senior Executive Service (SES) Ethnicity and Race, provides counts and percentages of SES 

employees broken down by ethnicity and race for Fiscal Year 2016. 

Table 8. Senior Executive Service Ethnicity and Race 

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Year 2016 (FY2016) 

ETHNICITY AND RACE COUNT PERCENT 

UNSPECIFIED 1 0.01 

NOT HISPANIC/LATINO & AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKA NATIVE 91 1.12 

NOT HISPANIC/LATINO & ASIAN 295 3.62 

NOT HISPANIC/LATINO & BLACK/AFRICAN AMERICAN 899 11.02 

NOT HISPANIC/LATINO & NATIVE HAWAIIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER 18 0.22 

NOT HISPANIC/LATINO & WHITE 6,414 78.64 

NOT HISPANIC/LATINO & OF MORE THAN ONE RACE 61 0.75 

HISPANIC/LATINO 241 2.95 

HISPANIC/LATINO & AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKA NATIVE 4 0.05 

HISPANIC/LATINO & ASIAN 2 0.02 

HISPANIC/LATINO & BLACK/AFRICAN AMERICAN 4 0.05 

HISPANIC/LATINO & NATIVE HAWAIIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER 1 0.01 

HISPANIC/LATINO & WHITE 111 1.36 

HISPANIC/LATINO & OF MORE THAN ONE RACE 14 0.17 

ALL 8,156 100.00 

 -

 1,000

 2,000

 3,000

 4,000

 5,000

 6,000

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

SES Count 

Fiscal Year 

FEMALE

MALE
8 

Table 9, Senior Executive Service (SES) Ethnicity and Race Trends, provides counts of SES employees for 

the last five fiscal years broken down by ethnicity and race. 

Table 9. Senior Executive Service (SES) Ethnicity and Race Trends 

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2012 to 2016 (FY2012-FY2016) 

ETHNICITY AND RACE FY2012 FY2013 FY2014 FY2015 FY2016 

 UNSPECIFIED 3 3 1 1 1 

 NOT HISPANIC/LATINO & AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKA NATIVE 91 92 90 99 91 

 NOT HISPANIC/LATINO & ASIAN 251 241 253 260 295 

 NOT HISPANIC/LATINO & BLACK/AFRICAN AMERICAN 829 849 859 888 899 

 NOT HISPANIC/LATINO & NATIVE HAWAIIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER 12 10 12 13 18 

 NOT HISPANIC/LATINO & WHITE 6,444 6,341 6,193 6,313 6,414 

 NOT HISPANIC/LATINO & OF MORE THAN ONE RACE 46 55 50 56 61 

 HISPANIC/LATINO 254 238 230 230 241 

 HISPANIC/LATINO & AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKA NATIVE 1 1 2 1 4 

 HISPANIC/LATINO & ASIAN 1 1 2 2 2 

 HISPANIC/LATINO & BLACK/AFRICAN AMERICAN 3 4 6 6 4 

 HISPANIC/LATINO & NATIVE HAWAIIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER 1 1 1 

 HISPANIC/LATINO & WHITE 64 71 95 101 111 

 HISPANIC/LATINO & OF MORE THAN ONE RACE 4 7 9 12 14 

 ALL 8,004 7,914 7,802 7,982 8,156 

Table 10, Senior Executive Service (SES) Education, provides counts and percentages of SES employees 

broken down by education levels for Fiscal Year 2016. The education variable in the OPM databases has 

over twenty levels. Table 10 shows a common grouping of those levels. It is important to note that 

education is not an element regularly collected by agencies. Typically, it is recorded at the time of hire 

and updated only at the employees’ initiative thereafter. As a result, OPM education statistics should be 

treated as lower bounds on the true educational attainment of the Federal workforce. 

Table 10. Senior Executive Service (SES) Education 

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Year 2016 (FY2016) 

EDUCATION COUNT PERCENT 

NO HIGH SCHOOL DEGREE 4 0.05 

HIGH SCHOOL DEGREE 345 4.23 

SOME COLLEGE 225 2.76 

TECHNICAL TRAINING 8 0.10 

ASSOCIATES DEGREE 29 0.36 

COLLEGE DEGREE 1,884 23.10 

ADVANCED DEGREE 5,658 69.37 

UNKNOWN OR UNSPECIFIED 3 0.04 

ALL 8,156 100.00 
9 

Table 11, Senior Executive Service (SES) Education Trends, provides counts of SES employees for the last 

five fiscal years broken down by education level. Just as Table 10, the education variable in the OPM 

databases has over twenty levels. Table 11 shows a common grouping of those levels. It is important to 

note that education is not an element regularly collected by agencies. Typically, it is recorded at the 

time of initial hire into the federal Government and only at the employees’ initiative thereafter. As a 

result, OPM education statistics should be treated as lower bounds on the true educational attainment 

of the Federal workforce 

Table 11. Senior Executive Service (SES) Education Trends 

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2012 to 2016 (FY2012-FY2016) 

EDUCATION FY2012 FY2013 FY2014 FY2015 FY2016 

NO HIGH SCHOOL DEGREE 6 4 4 2 4 

HIGH SCHOOL DEGREE 277 292 292 308 345 

SOME COLLEGE 224 220 209 213 225 

TECHNICAL TRAINING 2 4 7 8 8 

ASSOCIATES DEGREE 39 35 35 32 29 

COLLEGE DEGREE 1,895 1,828 1,805 1,851 1,884 

ADVANCED DEGREE 5,556 5,528 5,449 5,567 5,658 

UNKNOWN OR UNSPECIFIED 5 3 1 1 3 

ALL 8,004 7,914 7,802 7,982 8,156 

Table 12, Senior Executive Service (SES) Length of Service (LOS) Trends, lists the LOS distribution of SES 

employees for the last five fiscal years. An employee’s LOS is based on all prior federal service, not just 

their prior SES service. In addition to the average, the quartiles are listed in order. For Fiscal Year 2016 

(FY2016), at the 25th percentile, 25% of SES employees have served less than 12.8 years; 75% of SES 

employees have served more than 12.8 years. The interpretation is the same for the median, which is 

simply the 50th percentile; For FY2016, 50% of SES employees have served less than 24 years, while 50% 

of SES employees have served more than 24 years. For FY2016, the 75th percentile is 30.3; 75% of SES 

employees have served less than 30.3 years, while 25% of SES employees have served more than 30.3 

years. 

Table 12. Senior Executive Service (SES) Length of Service (LOS) Trends 

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2012 to 2016 (FY2012-FY2016) 

FISCAL YEAR AVERAGE LOS 25TH PERCENTILE MEDIAN 75TH PERCENTILE 

2012 22.0 12.9 23.6 30.4 

2013 22.0 13.2 23.8 30.2 

2014 22.0 12.9 23.8 30.2 

2015 21.8 12.6 23.9 30.3 

2016 21.9 12.8 24.0 30.3 
10

Figure 4, Senior Executive Service (SES) Length of Service (LOS) Trends, is a graphical representation of 

Table 12. Figure 4 shows that the LOS statistics are relatively stable over the last five fiscal years with 

the exception of the 25th percentile which shows a decrease. 

Figure 4. Senior Executive Service (SES) Length of Service (LOS) Trends 

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2012 to 2016 (FY2012-FY2016) 

Table 13. Senior Executive Service (SES) Salary Trends, lists the Salary distribution of SES employees for 

the last five fiscal years. In addition to the average, the quartiles are listed in order. For Fiscal Year 2016 

(FY2016), at the 25th percentile, 25% of SES employees earn less than $166,345 a year; 75% of SES 

employees earn more than $166,345 a year. The interpretation is the same for the median, which is 

simply the 50th percentile; for FY2016, 50% of SES employees earn less than $173,882 a year, while 50% 

of SES employees earn more than $173,882 a year. For FY2016, the 75th percentile is $181,839; 75% of 

SES employees earn less than $181,839 a year, while 25% of SES employees earn more than $181,839 a 

year. 

Table 13. Senior Executive Service (SES) Salary Trends 

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2012 to 2016 (FY2012-FY2016) 

FISCAL YEAR AVERAGE SALARY 25TH PERCENTILE MEDIAN 75TH PERCENTILE 

2012 $ 166,025 $ 160,000 $165,800 $ 175,013 

2013 $ 165,645 $ 159,609 $165,300 $ 174,730 

2014 $ 168,214 $ 162,237 $168,766 $ 177,023 

2015 $ 170,441 $ 164,430 $171,489 $ 179,700 

2016 $ 172,576 $ 166,345 $173,882 $ 181,839 

12.0

14.0

16.0

18.0

20.0

22.0

24.0

26.0

28.0

30.0

32.0

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

SES LOS 

Fiscal Year 

AVERAGE LOS

25TH PERCENTILE

MEDIAN

75TH PERCENTILE
11

Figure 5, Senior Executive Service (SES) Salary Trends, is a graphical representation of Table 13. 

Figure 5. Senior Executive Service (SES) Salary Trends 

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2012 to 2016 (FY2012-FY2016) 

Table 14, Senior Executive Service (SES) Action Trends, provides counts of SES employees broken down 

by separations, new hires, and conversions, for the last five fiscal years. Separations represent all 

employees who left the SES at any point in a particular Fiscal Year. New hires represent all employees 

who joined the SES in a particular Fiscal Year. Conversions represent all employees who were converted 

to the SES in a particular Fiscal Year. 

Table 14. Senior Executive Service (SES) Action Trends 

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2012 to 2016 (FY2012-FY2016) 

ACTIONS DYNAMICS FY2012 FY2013 FY2014 FY2015 FY2016 

SEPARATIONS 

QUIT 223 256 241 228 227 

DISCHARGE 5 7 2 9 2 

REDUCTION IN FORCE (RIF) 

MISCELLANEOUS TERMINATION 11 13 9 7 8 

RETIREMENT 608 606 632 573 587 

DEATH 12 12 6 8 7 

OTHER SEPARATION 3 4 1 

NEW HIRES 

NEW HIRE - COMP - TEMP/LIMITED APPT 1 

NEW HIRE - SES APPT 277 300 358 387 328 

NEW HIRE - EXCEPTED APPOINTMENT 1 

COVERSIONS CONVERSION - EXCEPTED 1 1 

CONVERSION - SES 791 756 687 898 943

 $155,000

 $160,000

 $165,000

 $170,000

 $175,000

 $180,000

 $185,000

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

SES Salary 

Fiscal Year 

AVERAGE SALARY

25TH PERCENTILE

MEDIAN

75TH PERCENTILE
12

Figure 6, Senior Executive Service (SES) Action Trends, is a graphical representation of Table 14. 

Figure 6. Senior Executive Service (SES) Action Trends 

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2012 to 2016 (FY2012-FY2016) 

Additional Details 

For any data requests, the OPM produces an online data tool, FedScope, which is updated quarterly: 

http://www.fedscope.opm.gov/. Many of the tables and figures above can be replicated in FedScope, 

with the option for much more detail. The tool is best utilized with Internet Explorer. For all other 

inquiries, contact the Data Analysis Group (DAG) at FedStats@opm.gov. 

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2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

SES Count 

Fiscal Year 

SEPARATIONS

NEW HIRES

COVERSIONS
PPA-02846-04-17

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Planning and Policy Analysis

1900 E Street, NW, Washington, DC 20415

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