Executive Departments of The Present
All departments are listed by their present-day name and only departments with past or present cabinet-level status are listed. Order of succession has always included the Vice President (1) as the first in line; at times – including presently – the Speaker of the House (2) and the President pro tempore of the Senate (3) have also been included.
| Department |
Creation |
Order of succession |
Notes | 2009 Outlays in billions of dollars |
Employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | 1789 | 4 | Initially named "Department of Foreign Affairs". | 16.39 | 18,900 |
| Treasury | 1789 | 5 | 19.56 | 115,897 | |
| Justice | 1870 | 7 | Position of Attorney General created in 1789, but had no department until 1870 | 46.20 | 112,557 |
| Interior | 1849 | 8 | 90.00 | 71,436 | |
| Agriculture | 1862 | 9 | 134.12 | 109,832 | |
| Commerce | 1903 | 10 | Originally named Commerce and Labor; Labor later separated | 15.77 | 43,880 |
| Labor | 1913 | 11 | 137.97 | 17,347 | |
| Defense | 1947 | 6 | Initially named "National Military Establishment" 1947-49. Created as a subsuming—from executive to sub-executive status—of the Departments of Air Force, Army (War), and Navy. | 651.16 | 3,000,000 |
| Health and Human Services | 1953 | 12 | Originally named Health, Education, and Welfare; Education later separated | 879.20 | 67,000 |
| Housing and Urban Development | 1965 | 13 | 40.53 | 10,600 | |
| Transportation | 1966 | 14 | 73.20 | 58,622 | |
| Energy | 1977 | 15 | 24.10 | 109,094 | |
| Education | 1980 | 16 | 45.40 | 4,487 | |
| Veterans Affairs | 1989 | 17 | formerly an independent agency as the Veterans Administration | 97.70 | 235,000 |
| Homeland Security | 2002 | 18 | 40.00 | 208,000 | |
| Total outlays, employees: | $2,311.30B | 4,193,144 | |||
Read more about this topic: United States Federal Executive Departments
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