The U.S. Coast Guard is celebrating its highest recruiting numbers in decades.
The service announced Friday that its accession numbers exceeded Fiscal Year 2025 goals and achieved the highest numbers since 1991, with 5,204 active-duty enlisted service members–equivalent to hitting 121% of its target of 4,300 members for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, 2024, and concluded Sept. 30, 2025.
"The Coast Guard far exceeded our recruiting goals in Fiscal Year 2025, showing that more Americans want to serve in the Coast Guard than ever before,” Adm. Kevin Lunday, acting commandant of the Coast Guard, said in a statement. “Thanks to our recruiters for their great success. We aren’t just growing—we are bringing in the best talent from across the United States and building the workforce of the future.”
Military.com reached out to USCG for additional comment.
Long-Term Plan
The service also exceeded goals in other areas, including commissioned 371 new officers to achieve 101% of their overall goal, in addition to the largest officer target achieved in recorded history.
USCG also accessed 777 reservists, surpassing its official target of 750 for a 104% success rate. That makes it the third consecutive year for meeting reservist recruiting goals.
To accommodate its growth, the service opened seven new recruiting offices this past fiscal year in the following locations: Los Angeles, Calif.; Long Island, N.Y.; Austin, Texas; Grand Rapid, Mich.; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Davenport, Iowa.
All enlisted members start at Training Center Cape May in Cape May, New Jersey, where they complete basic training in preparation for service. Officer accessions occur on board the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., where candidates are trained and commissioned for service as Coast Guard officers.
Officials say recruitment goals align under a strategic initiative called Force Design 2028 to modernize and grow the Coast Guard’s force by 15,000 members by fiscal year 2028, at the direction of President Donald Trump and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem.
The plan was put into effect partly because USCG operates differently from other Armed Forces branches, all of which have Service Secretaries that provide direct civilian political leadership, control, oversight, accountability and advocacy. USCG does not.
“FD2028 is a new path forward that allows the Coast Guard to better serve the American people, align with the other five military services, and swiftly effect needed change through strong civilian oversight and control,” reads the USCG website, adding that Noem will pursue legislation needed to establish a Coast Guard Service Secretary within DHS “to correct this historical institutional disadvantage that has left it less ready to protect the American people.”
