“Just last week, the White House highlighted our data showing the largest 4-year gain in citizen satisfaction since the ACSI began measuring in 1999,” said Forrest Morgeson, Associate Professor of Marketing at Michigan State University and Director of Research Emeritus at the ACSI. “Now, our new Efficiency Gap metric digs deeper into where federal services excel and where they fall short in the eyes of citizens. This information could prove vital as the incoming administration focuses on government efficiency.”

The Department of the Interior, which includes national parks, leads all federal entities with performance 13% above the federal average. The Department of Energy and Office of Personnel Management both follow at 7% above average efficiency. Conversely, the Internal Revenue Service shows the largest efficiency gap at 9% below average, while Border Protection (-8%) and the Census Bureau (-7%) also have lower efficiency scores.

The Efficiency Gap metric is calculated by comparing the average scores of four core drivers – process efficiency, information accessibility, customer service, and website functionality – for each department against the federal government average during the Biden presidency (2021-2024). Departments with positive percentages are perceived by citizens as delivering above-average, more efficient performance, while negative percentages indicate below-average efficiency and areas with the greatest opportunity for improvement.

“These findings offer a citizen-centric view of government efficiency that complements traditional cost-cutting approaches,” said Morgeson. “As DOGE begins its efficiency initiatives, this data highlights both improvement opportunities and high-performing services that citizens value, such as our national parks system.”

The Efficiency Gap metric expands upon ACSI’s Federal Government Study 2024, which recently reported citizen satisfaction reaching a seven-year high of 69.7 (out of 100). The study provides incoming administration officials with comprehensive data on citizen perceptions of government performance.