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How many people
work from home in the US?
2024 Statistics and trends

  • Last Updated: August 26, 2024
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Report highlights. As of 2024, over 22 million adults in the United States now work exclusively from home; this is expected to increase to 32.6 million by 2025.

  • 22 million adults in the United States work exclusively from home.
  • By 2025, it’s estimated 32.6 million Americans will be fully remote.
  • 39% of employees have the capability to work from home.
  • According to 53% of remote workers, connecting through remote work is challenging.
  • 71% of employees who work from home report an improved work/life balance.

What percentage of people work from home?

30.5% of employed Americans work from home, exclusively or part-time. Although remote-capable jobs still represent a minority of the labor market, they constitute a significant portion—39% of all employees.

Experts forecast a 65% increase in full-time remote work over the next five years.

  • When surveyed, 65% of all employees in the U.S. want the option to work remotely.
  • Of all employed Americans with a remote-capable job, 55% (mostly) work from home.
  • 39% of employees have the ability to work from home
  • 35% of American workers with a remote-capable job work from home all the time, representing 14% of the US labor force
  • Over three-quarters of workers want their employer to encourage more working from home
  • 61% of hybrid workers state that their employer requires them to work some days in the office

How many Americans work from home?

Roughly 48 million Americans work from home in some form, with 22 million dedicated to full-time home-based jobs. At the pandemic’s peak, 61 million US workers primarily worked from home.

  • 22 million US adults are working from home all the time
  • Around 26 million American workers follow a hybrid schedule, working at home some days of the week
  • During the pandemic peak, over 26.5 million US workers worked from home full-time time, and 34.5 million maintained a hybrid working schedule
  • While numbers have dipped since the pandemic peaked, in 2019, only 15 million American adults worked from home some or all days.
  • There’s no significant gender gap in working-from-home rates, though women are 1.2% more likely to work from home than men.

Do people like working from home?

Most surveys reviewed indicate people like working from home despite the challenges of remote work.

  • According to a USA Today remote work survey, 71% of remote employees report a nicer work-life balance. Other highly rated benefits include time-saved commuting and more comfortable workspaces.
  • 71% of people working from home report an enhanced work/life balance
  • Connecting through remote work is seen as challenging by 53% of remote workers
  • 32% of Generation Z students expect or prefer to work from home all the time
  • Amongst white-collar workers, 58% prefer to work at least three days a week from home
  • One-third of all remote workers increased their productivity working from home, hiring managers say
  • About 4 in 5 US employers think remote work is successful

Sources

  1. Pew Research Center. (2023, March 30). *About a third of U.S. workers who can work from home do so all the time*. [https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/03/30/about-a-third-of-us-workers-who-can-work-from-home-do-so-all-the-time/]
  2. PwC. (n.d.). *US Remote Work Survey*. [https://www.pwc.com/us/en/library/covid-19/us-remote-work-survey.html]
  3. Barrero, J. M., Bloom, N., & Davis, S. J. (2021). *The Evolution of Working from Home*. Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR). [https://siepr.stanford.edu/publications/working-paper/evolution-working-home]
  4. Statista. (2024). *Share of hybrid vs. remote work in the United States from 2019 to 2024*. [https://www.statista.com/statistics/1356325/hybrid-vs-remote-work-us/]
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