Quick answer
The headline union membership statistics come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). In 2025, 10.0% of wage and salary workers, or 14.7 million people, were union members, little changed from 9.9% in 2024 and half the 20.1% rate of 1983.
Union membership statistics for the United States come from the BLS Union Members 2025 release, published February 18, 2026. It found that 10.0% of wage and salary workers were members of a union in 2025, or 14.7 million people. Another 1.8 million workers were not members but had jobs covered by a union contract, so 11.2% (16.5 million) were represented by a union. One caution applies to every 2025 figure on this page: the October 2025 survey was not collected because of the federal government shutdown, so BLS calls the 2025 annual estimates 11-month averages that are "not strictly comparable" with earlier years.
The national union membership rate
All official union membership statistics in the US come from one survey. BLS measures union status in the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey of about 60,000 households. Union questions are asked of one-quarter of the sample and cover wage and salary workers only; the self-employed are excluded. From BLS Table 1:
- 14,665,000 union members out of 146,661,000 employed wage and salary workers in 2025, a rate of 10.0%.
- In 2024, the count was 14,255,000 out of 144,522,000, a rate of 9.9%. Workzenly calculation: the published count rose by about 410,000, but BLS describes the rate as "little changed" and warns against strict comparison because of the missing October data.
- 16,486,000 workers were represented by a union in 2025 (11.2%), up from 16,023,000 (11.1%) in 2024.
- Full-time workers had a 10.9% membership rate; part-time workers had 5.7%.
What this means for employers: Nine in ten US workers are not union members, so most small employers set pay and policy on their own. But one in nine is covered by a contract, and in some industries and states the share is far higher. Your local competitors' pay scales may be set by a union agreement even if your own team is not organized.
Union membership trend since 1983
BLS's comparable series begins in 1983. Each figure below is from the BLS Union Members release for that year (see Sources).
- In 1983, the rate was 20.1% and there were 17.7 million union workers.
- By 2010, the rate was 11.9% (down from 12.3% in 2009) with 14.7 million members.
- In 2019, the rate was 10.3% with 14.6 million members.
- In 2020, the rate jumped to 10.8% even though membership fell by 321,000 to 14.3 million. A rising rate with fewer members means total wage and salary employment fell faster than union employment during the pandemic year.
- The rate then fell to 10.3% in 2021 (14.0 million members), 10.1% in 2022, 10.0% in 2023 (14.4 million) and 9.9% in 2024, before the 2025 reading of 10.0%.
Workzenly calculation: from 1983 to 2025, the rate fell 10.1 percentage points and membership fell by about 3.0 million, while the workforce grew. Since 2019 the rate has stayed between 9.9% and 10.8%.
What this means for employers: The long decline has flattened. Membership counts have held near 14 to 15 million for 15 years, so union pay standards remain a fixed part of the labor market rather than a fading one.
Public vs private sector
Government workers are more than five times as likely as private-sector workers to belong to a union, yet the two sectors have about the same number of members. From BLS Table 3, 2025:
- Public sector: 32.9% rate, 7.3 million members (up from 32.2% in 2024).
- Private sector: 5.9% rate, 7.4 million members (5.9% in 2024).
- Local government: 37.8%, the highest of any group. BLS notes local government "employs many workers in heavily unionized occupations, such as police officers, firefighters, and teachers."
- State government: 29.6%. Federal government: 27.2%.
- By occupation, the highest rates were in education, training and library jobs (32.5%) and protective service (31.3%); the lowest were farming, fishing and forestry (2.4%) and sales (2.5%). (BLS release)
Workzenly calculation: the public-sector rate (32.9%) is about 5.6 times the private-sector rate (5.9%).
What this means for employers: If you hire for roles that also exist in government, such as teachers' aides, nurses, maintenance staff or drivers, you compete with union-scale public pay and benefits. Our employee benefits statistics show how much richer government packages tend to be.
Labor union statistics by industry
Private-sector rates vary twentyfold by industry. Utilities, transportation and construction are well above average; finance and food service are far below it.
- Health care and social assistance had the most private-sector union members of any industry: 1.37 million at a 6.8% rate.
- Manufacturing had 1.11 million members (7.7%), and construction had 995,000 (11.1%, up from 10.3% in 2024).
- Transportation and warehousing fell from 15.8% in 2024 to 13.6% in 2025, and members from 1.01 million to 895,000.
- Retail trade held at 4.0% (623,000 members). Leisure and hospitality was 3.0%, with food service and lodging at 2.4%.
- Insurance (1.2%) and professional and technical services (1.3%) joined finance among the least unionized.
What this means for employers: A restaurant or store is very unlikely to face an organized workforce, but a construction contractor or warehouse operator works in an industry where roughly one in seven to one in nine workers carries a union card. On union jobs, contract wage rates, overtime rules and differentials must be applied exactly, hour by hour.
Union membership by state
BLS says state rates in 2025 ranged "from below 5 percent to nearly 25 percent" and cautions that 2025 state estimates "should be interpreted with caution" because of the missing October data. From BLS Table 5:
- Highest rates: Hawaii 24.8%, New York 21.3%, Alaska 18.1% and Washington 18.0%.
- Lowest rates: South Dakota 2.3%, North Carolina 2.5%, South Carolina 2.7% and Arkansas 2.8%.
- Most members: California 2.49 million and New York 1.83 million. Workzenly calculation: together they hold about 29% of all US union members.
- Large states near the bottom: Texas 4.9% (673,000 members), Florida 5.4% and Georgia 5.1%.
- Biggest moves: Washington rose from 16.0% to 18.0%; Colorado fell from 7.7% to 5.9% and New Jersey from 16.2% to 14.7%. Single-year state changes are noisy, more so in 2025.
The full table lists every state and the District of Columbia.
| State | 2025 rate | 2025 members | 2024 rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 6.3% | 131,000 | 6.6% |
| Alaska | 18.1% | 57,000 | 17.7% |
| Arizona | 4.1% | 132,000 | 3.7% |
| Arkansas | 2.8% | 36,000 | 3.5% |
| California | 14.9% | 2,489,000 | 14.5% |
| Colorado | 5.9% | 161,000 | 7.7% |
| Connecticut | 16.1% | 266,000 | 16.5% |
| Delaware | 10.4% | 47,000 | 8.5% |
| District of Columbia | 9.2% | 34,000 | 10.6% |
| Florida | 5.4% | 503,000 | 5.1% |
| Georgia | 5.1% | 236,000 | 3.8% |
| Hawaii | 24.8% | 145,000 | 26.5% |
| Idaho | 4.1% | 36,000 | 5.0% |
| Illinois | 13.1% | 758,000 | 13.1% |
| Indiana | 8.3% | 260,000 | 9.0% |
| Iowa | 6.8% | 101,000 | 6.4% |
| Kansas | 6.2% | 84,000 | 6.3% |
| Kentucky | 8.9% | 157,000 | 8.8% |
| Louisiana | 4.4% | 79,000 | 3.9% |
| Maine | 11.9% | 71,000 | 13.1% |
| Maryland | 12.7% | 346,000 | 11.4% |
| Massachusetts | 14.5% | 498,000 | 14.6% |
| Michigan | 13.0% | 566,000 | 13.4% |
| Minnesota | 14.1% | 386,000 | 14.2% |
| Mississippi | 4.2% | 47,000 | 5.2% |
| Missouri | 9.8% | 271,000 | 8.6% |
| Montana | 11.2% | 53,000 | 11.9% |
| Nebraska | 6.6% | 64,000 | 6.8% |
| Nevada | 13.0% | 189,000 | 12.1% |
| New Hampshire | 8.9% | 60,000 | 9.2% |
| New Jersey | 14.7% | 612,000 | 16.2% |
| New Mexico | 6.1% | 52,000 | 7.5% |
| New York | 21.3% | 1,834,000 | 20.6% |
| North Carolina | 2.5% | 113,000 | 2.4% |
| North Dakota | 6.0% | 23,000 | 5.0% |
| Ohio | 11.6% | 605,000 | 12.1% |
| Oklahoma | 6.1% | 106,000 | 5.3% |
| Oregon | 15.1% | 283,000 | 15.9% |
| Pennsylvania | 10.9% | 620,000 | 11.7% |
| Rhode Island | 16.1% | 82,000 | 14.5% |
| South Carolina | 2.7% | 63,000 | 2.8% |
| South Dakota | 2.3% | 10,000 | 2.7% |
| Tennessee | 4.8% | 145,000 | 4.7% |
| Texas | 4.9% | 673,000 | 4.5% |
| Utah | 3.8% | 61,000 | 3.7% |
| Vermont | 13.1% | 38,000 | 14.3% |
| Virginia | 5.4% | 204,000 | 5.2% |
| Washington | 18.0% | 632,000 | 16.0% |
| West Virginia | 8.5% | 60,000 | 8.8% |
| Wisconsin | 6.4% | 173,000 | 6.4% |
| Wyoming | 6.0% | 14,000 | 5.6% |
Source: BLS, Union Members 2025, Table 5. Members are published in thousands. Rates are union members as a share of employed wage and salary workers.
What this means for employers: State union density tracks state labor law. High-membership states such as New York, California and Washington also tend to have high minimum wages and pay transparency laws, so expect stricter wage rules where unions are strong.
Union workers statistics by age, sex and race
Membership peaks in mid-career. From BLS Table 1 and the 2025 release:
- Workers aged 45 to 54 had the highest rate, 12.6%. Workers aged 16 to 24 had the lowest, 4.7% (up from 4.3% in 2024).
- Other age groups: 8.9% for ages 25 to 34, 11.0% for 35 to 44, 12.0% for 55 to 64 and 8.4% for 65 and older.
- Men had a rate of 10.4% (7.9 million members) and women 9.6% (6.8 million).
- By race and ethnicity, Black workers had the highest rate at 11.4%, followed by White workers (9.9%), Hispanic workers (8.9%) and Asian workers (8.7%).
What this means for employers: Young hourly workers, the core of restaurant and retail staffing, are the least likely to be union members. Experienced mid-career hires are more likely to come from union jobs and to expect written pay scales, seniority rules and clear policies, which a current employee handbook provides.
Union vs nonunion earnings
BLS publishes median weekly earnings for full-time wage and salary workers by union status (Table 2 and Table 4). BLS states that these comparisons "are on a broad level and do not control for many factors" such as occupation, industry, employer size and location.
- Union members: $1,404 a week in 2025. Nonunion workers: $1,174. Workzenly calculation: a raw gap of $230, or about 20%.
- In 2024 the figures were $1,337 and $1,138.
- Women union members earned $1,297 versus $1,056 for nonunion women; men earned $1,487 versus $1,289.
- Union members aged 16 to 24 earned $954 versus $763 for nonunion peers.
| Industry (2025) | Union members | Nonunion | Raw gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total private sector | $1,364 | $1,169 | +$195 |
| Construction | $1,585 | $1,132 | +$453 |
| Transportation and warehousing | $1,432 | $1,018 | +$414 |
| Health care and social assistance | $1,394 | $1,134 | +$260 |
| Manufacturing | $1,340 | $1,237 | +$103 |
| Accommodation and food services | $882 | $749 | +$133 |
| Retail trade | $908 | $913 | −$5 |
| Local government | $1,467 | $1,110 | +$357 |
Source: BLS, Union Members 2025, Table 4, median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers. Gap column is a Workzenly calculation.
The gap is widest in construction, where union members' median was about 40% higher (Workzenly calculation), and absent in retail, where union and nonunion medians were within $5.
What this means for employers: In construction, transportation and health care, nonunion employers competing for the same tradespeople often have to pay closer to union scale. Our minimum wage statistics cover the floor; this table shows the ceiling you may be bidding against. Union dues, where they apply, are a payroll deduction that must follow the employee's written authorization.
Public approval of labor unions
Gallup has asked Americans whether they approve of labor unions since 1936. Its latest results, published September 1, 2026, come from telephone interviews with 1,200 adults on August 3 to 24, 2026 (margin of error ±4 points).
- 71% of Americans approve of labor unions, matching 2022 and up from 68% in August 2025 (Gallup, 2025). The all-time low was 48% in 2009; the high was 73% to 75% in the 1950s.
- A record 47% want unions to have more influence, 23% less and 26% the same.
- Approval was 89% among Democrats, 70% among independents and 52% among Republicans.
- Only 27% expect unions to grow stronger, down from a record 34% in 2023; 39% expect them to weaken.
Approval and union membership statistics tell different stories: about seven in ten adults approve of unions, but one in ten workers belongs to one.
What this means for employers: Employees' interest in organizing usually follows specific complaints: unpredictable schedules, pay errors, unclear discipline. Fair, documented policies and accurate pay address those directly. Know the limits of at-will employment: Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act protects employees who act together on pay and working conditions, with or without a union, as our at-will guide explains.
We also tried to include National Labor Relations Board election data, but the NLRB website could not be reached when this page was compiled, so no NLRB figures appear here.
About this data
The membership, state, industry, demographic and earnings figures come from the BLS Union Members release, which is published once a year, usually in January; the 2025 edition came out February 18, 2026. It draws on the Current Population Survey. Union members are members of a labor union or a similar employee association. Represented by unions adds nonmembers whose jobs are covered by a union contract. The 2025 annual figures are 11-month averages that exclude October 2025, so BLS says they are not strictly comparable with other years, and state figures carry extra uncertainty.
Public opinion figures come from Gallup's annual union approval question, asked in August in 2025 and 2026. Where we compute a difference, share or ratio, the text labels it as a Workzenly calculation. Earnings gaps are raw medians and do not adjust for job type or location.
We review this page when new releases come out. Journalists, students and bloggers are welcome to cite it with a link to this page.
More workforce statistics: Average hourly wage · Employee benefits statistics · Gender pay gap statistics · Workplace injuries statistics.
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Union Members 2025 (USDL-26-0229, February 18, 2026). bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm
- BLS, Union Members 2025, Table 1: Union affiliation by selected characteristics, 2024 and 2025. bls.gov/news.release/union2.t01.htm
- BLS, Union Members 2025, Table 2: Median weekly earnings by union affiliation, 2024 and 2025. bls.gov/news.release/union2.t02.htm
- BLS, Union Members 2025, Table 3: Union affiliation by occupation and industry. bls.gov/news.release/union2.t03.htm
- BLS, Union Members 2025, Table 4: Median weekly earnings by union affiliation, occupation and industry. bls.gov/news.release/union2.t04.htm
- BLS, Union Members 2025, Table 5: Union affiliation by state. bls.gov/news.release/union2.t05.htm
- BLS, Union Members 2025, Technical Note. bls.gov/news.release/union2.tn.htm
- BLS, Union Members 2023 (January 23, 2024), source of 2022 and 2023 figures. bls.gov/news.release/archives/union2_01232024.htm
- BLS, Union Members 2021 (January 20, 2022). bls.gov/news.release/archives/union2_01202022.htm
- BLS, Union Members 2020 (January 22, 2021). bls.gov/news.release/archives/union2_01222021.htm
- BLS, Union Members 2019 (January 22, 2020). bls.gov/news.release/archives/union2_01222020.htm
- BLS, Union Members 2010 (January 21, 2011), source of 2010 and 1983 figures. bls.gov/news.release/archives/union2_01212011.htm
- Gallup, "Record-High 47% Want Unions to Have More Influence," September 1, 2026 (survey August 3 to 24, 2026). news.gallup.com/poll/713936
- Gallup, "Labor Union Approval Relatively Steady at 68% in U.S.," August 28, 2025. news.gallup.com/poll/694472
Frequently asked questions
What is the union membership rate in the US?
The union membership rate was 10.0% in 2025, with 14.7 million wage and salary workers belonging to unions, according to the BLS Union Members release of February 18, 2026. That compares with 9.9% in 2024 and 20.1% in 1983, the first year of comparable data.
Which state has the highest union membership rate?
Hawaii had the highest union membership rate in 2025 at 24.8%, followed by New York at 21.3%, Alaska at 18.1% and Washington at 18.0%, according to BLS. South Dakota had the lowest at 2.3%, followed by North Carolina at 2.5%.
Are more union members in the public or private sector?
The two are nearly equal in size. In 2025, BLS counted 7.4 million union members in the private sector and 7.3 million in the public sector. The rates differ sharply: 32.9% of public-sector workers were members, compared with 5.9% of private-sector workers.
How much more do union workers earn?
In 2025, full-time union members had median weekly earnings of $1,404, compared with $1,174 for nonunion workers, according to BLS. BLS notes that this broad comparison does not control for occupation, industry, location and other factors that affect pay.
Which industries have the highest union membership?
Among private industries in 2025, utilities had the highest union membership rate at 17.8%, followed by transportation and warehousing at 13.6% and educational services at 13.4%, according to BLS. Finance had the lowest at 0.8%. Local government reached 37.8%.
Do Americans approve of labor unions?
Yes. Gallup found that 71% of US adults approved of labor unions in its August 3 to 24, 2026 survey, published September 1, 2026, up from 68% in 2025. A record 47% said they want unions to have more influence.