WASHINGTON (Sept. 10, 2025) — A new report by George Washington University researchers finds that proposed Fiscal Year 2026 budget cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, if enacted, would endanger public health and undermine state and local economies.
“The proposed CDC budget reductions not only harm the nation’s premier public health agency and the nation’s health; they also weaken states’ economies and would cause job losses across the country,” said Leighton Ku, Director of the Center for Health Policy Research at the GW Milken Institute School of Public Health and lead author of the study. “In fact, the loss to state and local economies is far greater than the federal budget savings.”
The researchers used an economic modeling system called IMPLAN to estimate the economic and employment repercussions of federal funding cuts.
Key findings of the report:
- The FY 2026 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services budget proposal would cut CDC funding by $5 billion, shifting over $1 billion to other HHS operating and staff divisions. This results in a net $3.8 billion cut – and a resultant FY 26 budget that is 42% less than CDC’s FY 2024 budget.
- Overall, state economies would lose $5.4 billion in their gross domestic products. The loss to state economies would be about 40% greater than the federal savings, as losses ripple through state and local economies. In other words, for every $1 the federal government saves, state and local economies would lose $1.40.
- About 42,000 jobs would be lost nationwide in 2026 if the proposed CDC budget cut were to become law. About one-third of the jobs lost would be in sectors outside of public health.
- State and local tax revenues would fall by more than $240 million because of the economic and employment losses across the nation.
- The greatest loss would occur in Georgia, where CDC is headquartered. Georgia’s GDP would be about $1.9 billion less as a result of the CDC budget cuts.
- Economic and employment losses are projected for every state. States losing over 1,000 jobs each include Georgia, California, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania.
- Some of these losses have already been incurred because of cuts to CDC staffing and grants that have occurred since January. However, the full scope cannot be estimated because HHS has not shared sufficient information.
“The CDC has a direct and positive impact on state and local employment and economies,” said Lynn Goldman, Michael and Lori Milken Dean of Public Health at the GW Milken Institute School of Public Health. “Additionally, these proposed cuts will erode state and local prevention efforts and weaken the guidance and direction that public health agencies receive from CDC, thereby causing upticks in the costs of medical care, hospitalizations, disabilities and death. The ripple effects of these budget cuts will have real impacts on both the economies as well as the health outcomes of communities across the country.”
While both the Senate and House Appropriations Committees have proposed versions of their FY 2026 HHS appropriations, final reconciliation and passage of the bill has not yet occurred. In different ways, these bills would reduce harm to state and local public health and state economies. But on top of reductions in spending already made by the administration in FY 2025, these cuts, even if more modest, would still have harmful effects on state economies.
“It is important to remember that implementation of public health occurs at the state and local level,” noted Jeffrey Levi, Professor Emeritus of Health Policy and Management at the GW Milken Institute School of Public Health and a co-author of the study. “State and local public health efforts are highly dependent on federal funding – with, on average, about half of the funding for jurisdictional public health activities derived from federal sources. Reductions in CDC’s budget and staffing will diminish public health and prevention efforts across the nation.”
The report, “Proposed Budget Cuts Not Only Hurt CDC and Public Health, They Also Harm State and Local Economies and Employment,” was authored by Ku and a team of researchers at the GW Milken Institute School of Public Health.
The research was funded in part by a grant from the Commonwealth Fund.
The analyses and opinions expressed in the report are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as the views of either George Washington University or the Commonwealth Fund.
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