---
title: Federal Agencies Published 1,741 Final Rules This Year. Only 130 Carry the Significant Flag
description: US agencies published 1,741 final rules from January to July 2026. The FAA wrote 358 of them, the Coast Guard 243, and 130 carry the significant flag.
author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
updated: 2026-08-02T07:27:51.901Z
canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/federal-final-rules-2026-significant-flag
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/federal-rulemaking-volume-2026-80177.webp
categories: Politics
content_type: News
region: United States
publication: Sovereign Magazine
schema_type: Article
---

Between January and July this year the Federal Aviation Administration amended the area navigation routes near Thedford, Nebraska, and issued an airworthiness directive covering Stemme gliders. Each of those is a federal rule, and the agency published 358 of them in those seven months.

Across the whole government the count for the same window is [1,741 final rules](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/search?conditions%5Btype%5D%5B%5D=RULE&conditions%5Bpublication_date%5D%5Bgte%5D=2026-01-01&conditions%5Bpublication_date%5D%5Blte%5D=2026-07-31), drawn from 118 different agencies. Of those 1,741, the Federal Register flags 130 as significant.

The total sits close to where it has been for years. Final rules published between 1 January and 31 July ran to 1,790 in 2022, 1,760 in 2023 and 1,813 in 2024, fell to 1,495 in 2025, and came back to 1,741 this year. Proposed rules, which agencies publish separately, followed a similar shape over the same five windows: 1,236, then 1,242, then 1,027, then 950, and 1,074 this year.

## The Transportation Department Published 487 Final Rules

The Transportation Department is the largest single source, with 487 final rules in the window. Most of those are the FAA's 358, and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration adds another 54. The Homeland Security Department comes next at 270, of which the Coast Guard published 243. These agency counts overlap by design: a rule issued by the FAA is recorded under the FAA and again under its parent department, so they are not separate piles to be added together.

Below the two largest, the Environmental Protection Agency published 190. The Commerce Department published 173, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration responsible for 126 of them. Health and Human Services published 101, including 68 from the Food and Drug Administration. After that the counts fall away quickly: 59 at Treasury, 56 at Interior, 50 at Agriculture, 42 at the Federal Communications Commission, 40 at Justice, 34 at Energy, and 26 each at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

## The FAA Redraws Airspace One Piece at a Time

The rest of the FAA's list looks much like the two rules it opened the year with. One amends Class D and Class E airspace over Groton, Connecticut. Another establishes a prohibited area above New York, and a third amends Class B airspace over the same city. A few reach wider, among them a rule setting requirements for interference-tolerant radio altimeter systems. The airworthiness directives run model by model, one of them covering Pilatus airplanes.

## The Coast Guard Closes Water for Fireworks and Swim Races

The Coast Guard's 243 rules read like a calendar of the American summer. One establishes a safety zone for a fireworks display on the Ohio River at Follansbee, West Virginia. Another covers the Ohio Street Beach swim course in Chicago Harbor, on Lake Michigan. There are safety zones on Lake Erie at Avon Lake and on Lake Ontario at Olcott.

## FAQ

**Q: How many federal rules are published each year?**
Between 1 January and 31 July, agencies published 1,790 final rules in 2022, 1,760 in 2023, 1,813 in 2024, 1,495 in 2025 and 1,741 in 2026. Those are seven-month windows rather than full calendar years.

**Q: Which federal agency issues the most rules?**
In the first seven months of 2026 the Federal Aviation Administration published the most final rules of any single agency, at 358, followed by the Coast Guard at 243. At department level the Transportation Department is the largest source, at 487, a figure that already includes the FAA's own rules.