41 Remote Work Statistics

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These remote work figures cover the measurement periods and populations identified in the available source material. Estimates, surveys and forecasts retain their reported scope.

Key Remote Work Statistics

The main findings are:

  • In 2023, 13.8% of U.S. workers usually worked from home.
  • The median age of U.S. home-based workers was about 43.5 in 2023, versus 41.7 for the total workforce.
  • The overall U.S. telework rate averaged 22.9% in the first quarter of 2024 (Q1 2024).
  • In 2024 annual averages, 35.490 million U.S. people at work teleworked some hours and 18.580 million teleworked all hours.
  • In 2024, 41% of U.S. workers said they worked from home at least some of the time in the week before the Federal Reserve survey (2024 survey, week before survey).
  • Across the 23 countries with observations in all three waves, average full paid days worked from home fell from about 1.55 days in 2022 to 1.29 days in 2023 (2022-2023; 23-country balanced panel).
  • In 2019, 5.7% of U.S. workers usually worked from home.
  • About 3.6% of U.S. home-based workers were below the poverty level in 2023.
  • In Q1 2024, 37.9% of people in management, professional and related occupations teleworked.
  • In 2024 annual averages, 22.8% of U.S. people at work teleworked or worked at home for pay.
  • In 2024, 18% of U.S. workers worked entirely from home in the week before the Federal Reserve survey (2024 survey, week before survey).
  • Across the 23-country balanced panel, average full paid days worked from home stood at 1.23 days per week in late 2024 or early 2025 (late 2024/early 2025).
  • In 2021, 17.9% of U.S. workers usually worked from home.
  • Home-based workers in North Carolina had median earnings of $65,652 in 2023.
  • In Q1 2024, 24.9% of people in sales and office occupations teleworked.

Contents

U.S. remote-work scale and trend

  • In 2023, 13.8% of U.S. workers usually worked from home.

(New U.S. Census Bureau Data…)
* In 2019, 5.7% of U.S. workers usually worked from home.

(New U.S. Census Bureau Data…)
* In 2021, 17.9% of U.S. workers usually worked from home.

(New U.S. Census Bureau Data…)
* In 2022, 15.2% of U.S. workers usually worked from home.

(New U.S. Census Bureau Data…)
* More than 22 million U.S. people worked from home in 2023.

(New U.S. Census Bureau Data…)
* Around 9 million U.S. people worked from home in 2019.

(New U.S. Census Bureau Data…)
* The share of U.S. workers who worked from home was 13.3% in 2024, compared with 13.8% in 2023 (2024 and 2023).

(United States Commuting At A…)

ACS measure is usual mode of transportation/work location, not the share of all work hours done remotely.

ACS measure is usual work location, not a hybrid-workday measure.

ACS measure is usual work location and reflects pandemic-era conditions.

ACS measure is usual work location, not the share of work hours done remotely.

Census reports this as an approximate count derived from ACS estimates.

ACS 1-year estimates use the worked-from-home commuting category; 2020 ACS 1-year estimates are omitted because of high nonresponse.

Who works from home in the United States

  • The median age of U.S. home-based workers was about 43.5 in 2023, versus 41.7 for the total workforce.

(New U.S. Census Bureau Data…)
* About 3.6% of U.S. home-based workers were below the poverty level in 2023.

(New U.S. Census Bureau Data…)
* Home-based workers in North Carolina had median earnings of $65,652 in 2023.

(New U.S. Census Bureau Data…)
* In the Denver metropolitan area, 11.8% of home-based workers spoke a language other than English at home in 2023 (Denver, Colorado metropolitan area).

(New U.S. Census Bureau Data…)
* In Bronx County, 39.3% of home-based workers were in management, business, science and arts occupations in 2023 (Bronx County, New York).

(New U.S. Census Bureau Data…)

ACS comparison is between home-based workers and the total workforce.

Poverty status is an ACS measure and does not establish a causal relationship with working from home.

ACS median earnings are for home-based workers and are not an estimate of remote work’s causal effect on pay.

ACS language-at-home measure does not indicate work language or remote-work performance.

Occupation grouping is an ACS classification and is location-specific.

Telework intensity and occupation differences

  • The overall U.S. telework rate averaged 22.9% in the first quarter of 2024 (Q1 2024).

(Telework trends)
* In Q1 2024, 37.9% of people in management, professional and related occupations teleworked.

(Telework trends)
* In Q1 2024, 24.9% of people in sales and office occupations teleworked.

(Telework trends)
* In Q1 2024, 5.4% of people in service occupations teleworked.

(Telework trends)
* In Q1 2024, 3.2% of people in production, transportation and material-moving occupations teleworked.

(Telework trends)
* In Q1 2024, 3.2% of people in natural-resources, construction and maintenance occupations teleworked.

(Telework trends)
* Among U.S. teleworkers, 47.9% teleworked all their work hours in Q1 2024.

(Telework trends)
* Among U.S. teleworkers, 52.1% teleworked some but not all work hours in Q1 2024.

(Telework trends)
* Among U.S. teleworkers, 36.7% worked 40 or more hours from home in Q1 2024.

(Telework trends)
* U.S. teleworkers averaged 27.2 hours worked from home per week in Q1 2024.

(Telework trends)
* Telework accounted for 16.3% of all hours worked in the United States in Q1 2024.

(Telework trends)

BLS CPS telework rate measures people who teleworked or worked at home for pay and differs from the ACS usual-work-location measure.

BLS CPS occupation-group estimate.

Conditional share among teleworkers, not the share of all employed people.

Conditional distribution among teleworkers; hours are hours worked from home, not total weekly hours.

Average applies to teleworkers and fell by 2.1 hours from a year earlier; it is not an average for all workers.

BLS CPS hours-based measure differs from person-based telework rates.

State-level telework participation

  • In 2024 annual averages, 35.490 million U.S. people at work teleworked some hours and 18.580 million teleworked all hours.

(States: Persons at work by…)
* In 2024 annual averages, 22.8% of U.S. people at work teleworked or worked at home for pay.

(States: Persons at work by…)
* In 2024 annual averages, 10.7% of Alabama people at work teleworked or worked at home for pay.

(States: Persons at work by…)
* In 2024 annual averages, 16.8% of Alaska people at work teleworked or worked at home for pay.

(States: Persons at work by…)
* In 2024 annual averages, 27.5% of Arizona people at work teleworked or worked at home for pay.

(States: Persons at work by…)
* In 2024 annual averages, 25.5% of California people at work teleworked or worked at home for pay.

(States: Persons at work by…)

BLS table reports numbers in thousands and defines telework as teleworking or working at home for pay.

BLS annual-average state table uses a pay-related telework definition.

State estimate from BLS annual-average CPS table.

Work-from-home patterns by worker type and education

  • In 2024, 41% of U.S. workers said they worked from home at least some of the time in the week before the Federal Reserve survey (2024 survey, week before survey).

(Report on the Economic Well-Being…)
* In 2024, 18% of U.S. workers worked entirely from home in the week before the Federal Reserve survey (2024 survey, week before survey).

(Report on the Economic Well-Being…)
* In 2024, 22% of U.S. workers worked from home some of the time in the week before the Federal Reserve survey (2024 survey, week before survey).

(Report on the Economic Well-Being…)
* In 2024, 26% of U.S. workers with at least a bachelor’s degree worked entirely from home (2024 survey, week before survey).

(Report on the Economic Well-Being…)
* In 2024, 9% of U.S. workers with a high school degree or less worked entirely from home (2024 survey, week before survey).

(Report on the Economic Well-Being…)
* In 2024, 35% of self-employed U.S. people worked entirely from home (2024 survey, week before survey).

(Report on the Economic Well-Being…)
* In 2024, 28% of self-employed U.S. business owners with paid employees worked entirely from home (2024 survey, week before survey).

(Report on the Economic Well-Being…)
* In 2024, 16% of U.S. employees working for someone else worked entirely from home (2024 survey, week before survey).

(Report on the Economic Well-Being…)

Federal Reserve survey recall window and worker sample differ from ACS and BLS definitions.

Survey estimate; entirely-from-home category is not the same as ACS usual work location.

Survey estimate; category is defined for the week before the survey.

Federal Reserve survey subgroup estimate.

Federal Reserve defines this as people working for someone else; the report notes its 2024 worker denominator differs from earlier reports.

Global work-from-home participation

  • Across the 23 countries with observations in all three waves, average full paid days worked from home fell from about 1.55 days in 2022 to 1.29 days in 2023 (2022-2023; 23-country balanced panel).

(The Global Persistence of Work…)
* Across the 23-country balanced panel, average full paid days worked from home stood at 1.23 days per week in late 2024 or early 2025 (late 2024/early 2025).

(The Global Persistence of Work…)
* The G-SWA paper reports that the 1.23-day average corresponds to college-educated workers doing about 25% of workdays from home in late 2024 or early 2025 (late 2024/early 2025; 23-country balanced panel).

(The Global Persistence of Work…)
* College-educated employees in English-speaking countries including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland typically reported about 1.5 to 1.9 WFH days per week in the late-2024/early-2025 wave (November 2024-February 2025; United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland).

(The Global Persistence of Work…)

G-SWA balanced-panel estimate for college-educated workers; it is not a global all-worker estimate.

G-SWA estimate for college-educated workers; respondents reported where they worked six or more hours each day in the prior week.

This is the paper’s percentage interpretation of the survey’s average WFH-day measure and applies to college-educated workers.

Country-group range is for full-time, college-educated employees in the G-SWA and should not be generalized to all workers.

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