Decisions made in the public sector affect almost all aspects of our lives. The welfare of future generations depends upon those decisions now being made. It is odd, therefore, that the spatial outcomes of public sector decisions do not form a more prominent focus in contemporary geographic theory. The purpose of this essay is to correct this imbalance, by outlining a framework for the study of a geography of the public sector. Four themes are pursued: preliminaries; pattern; process; and theory and methodology. Together, they define the thirteen principal axioms of a public sector geography.