Union Membership (Annual) News Release

For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Wednesday, February 18, 2026 			       USDL-26-0229

Technical information:  (202) 691-6378  *  cpsinfo@bls.gov  *  www.bls.gov/cps
Media contact:          (202) 691-5902  *  PressOffice@bls.gov


                                 UNION MEMBERS -- 2025


The union membership rate--the percent of wage and salary workers who were members of unions
--was 10.0 percent in 2025, little changed from the prior year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics reported today. The number of wage and salary workers belonging to unions was 14.7
million in 2025. In 1983, the first year for which comparable data are available, the union
membership rate was 20.1 percent and there were 17.7 million union members.

Data about union members are collected as part of the Current Population Survey, a nationwide
sample survey of households in which people are asked, among other things, about union
membership. (See the Technical Note in this news release.) 

 _____________________________________________________________________________________________
|											      |
|                     Federal Government Shutdown Impact on Union Data			      |
|											      |
| The Current Population Survey (CPS) for October 2025 was not collected due to the federal   |
| government shutdown. As a result, annual estimates for 2025 household survey data were      |
| produced using 11-month averages that exclude October. Consequently, 2025 annual estimates  |
| are not strictly comparable with annual averages for other years. 			      |
|											      |
| Because union membership and earnings data are collected from only one quarter of the CPS   |
| sample, they are already based on a relatively small number of observations and are even    |
| more affected by the lack of October data. In particular, state union membership estimates  |
| for 2025 should be interpreted with caution. 						      |
|											      |
| For information about the impact of the federal government shutdown on CPS data, see	      |
| www.bls.gov/cps/methods/2025-federal-government-shutdown-impact-cps.htm.		      |
|_____________________________________________________________________________________________|


Highlights from the 2025 data: 

 --The union membership rate of public-sector workers (32.9 percent) continued to be more than
   five times higher than the rate of private-sector workers (5.9 percent). (See table 3.)

 --Workers in education, training, and library occupations (32.5 percent) and in protective
   service occupations (31.3 percent) had the highest unionization rates. (See table 3.)

 --Men continued to have a higher union membership rate (10.4 percent) than women (9.6 percent).
   (See table 1.)

 --Black workers remained more likely to be union members (11.4 percent) than White (9.9
   percent), Asian (8.7 percent), and Hispanic (8.9 percent) workers. (See table 1.)

 --Nonunion workers had median weekly earnings that were 84 percent of earnings for workers who
   were union members ($1,174 versus $1,404). (The comparisons of earnings in this news release
   are on a broad level and do not control for many factors that can be important in explaining
   earnings differences.) (See table 2.)

Industry and Occupation of Union Members

In 2025, the number of employees who belonged to unions was similar in the public sector (7.3
million) and the private sector (7.4 million). (See table 3.)

The public-sector union membership rate, at 32.9 percent, increased by 0.7 percentage point
over the year. The union membership rate continued to be highest in local government (37.8
percent), which employs many workers in heavily unionized occupations, such as police officers,
firefighters, and teachers.

The union membership rate in the private sector, at 5.9 percent, was unchanged over the year.        
Industries with the highest unionization rates in 2025 included utilities (17.8 percent),
transportation and warehousing (13.6 percent), and educational services (13.4 percent). The
lowest unionization rates occurred in finance (0.8 percent), insurance (1.2 percent),
professional and technical services (1.3 percent), agriculture and related industries (1.6
percent), and food services and drinking places (1.8 percent).

Among occupational groups, the highest union membership rates in 2025 were in education,
training, and library occupations (32.5 percent) and protective service occupations (31.3
percent). Membership rates were lowest in farming, fishing, and forestry occupations (2.4
percent) and sales and related occupations (2.5 percent).

Selected Characteristics of Union Members

In 2025, the unionization rate for women was little changed over the year at 9.6 percent, and
the number of women who were union members was 6.8 million. Meanwhile, the unionization rate
for men increased 0.2 percentage point to 10.4 percent, and the number of men who were union
members was 7.9 million. The gap between union membership rates for men and women has narrowed
considerably since 1983, when rates for men and women were 24.7 percent and 14.6 percent,
respectively. (See table 1.)

Among the major race and ethnicity groups, Black workers continued to have a higher union
membership rate in 2025 (11.4 percent) than White (9.9 percent), Asian (8.7 percent), and 
Hispanic (8.9 percent) workers. Over the year, the union membership rate increased for White
(+0.3 percentage point) and Hispanic (+0.4 percentage point) workers and was little changed
for Black and Asian workers.

By age, workers ages 45 to 54 had the highest union membership rate in 2025, at 12.6 percent.
Younger workers--those ages 16 to 24--had the lowest union membership rate, at 4.7 percent.

In 2025, the union membership rate continued to be higher for full-time workers (10.9 percent)
than for part-time workers (5.7 percent).

Union Representation

In 2025, 16.5 million wage and salary workers were represented by a union. The percentage of
workers represented by a union was 11.2 percent in 2025, little different than a year earlier.
Workers represented by a union include both union members (14.7 million) and workers who
report no union affiliation but whose jobs are covered by a union contract (1.8 million).
(See table 1.)

Earnings

Among full-time wage and salary workers, union members had median usual weekly earnings of
$1,404 in 2025, while nonunion workers had median usual weekly earnings of $1,174. In addition
to coverage by a collective bargaining agreement, these earnings differences reflect a variety
of factors, including variations in the distributions of union members and nonunion employees
by occupation, industry, age, firm size, or geographic region. (See tables 2 and 4.)

Union Membership by State

Across states, the rates of union membership varied widely, ranging from below 5 percent to
nearly 25 percent. State union membership data for 2025 are based on relatively few
observations and only allow for broad characterizations. (See table 5. See the note at the
beginning of this news release about the federal government shutdown.)

Technical Note
 
   The estimates in this news release are obtained from the Current Population Survey (CPS),
which provides basic information on the labor force, employment, and unemployment. The
survey is conducted monthly for the Bureau of Labor Statistics by the U.S. Census Bureau
from a scientifically selected national sample of about 60,000 eligible households. The
union membership and earnings data are tabulated from one-quarter of the CPS monthly 
sample and are limited to wage and salary workers. All self-employed workers are
excluded.

   Beginning in January of each year, data reflect revised population controls used in
the CPS. Additional information about population controls is available on the BLS 
website at www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm#pop.

   If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to
access telecommunications relay services. 

Reliability of the estimates

   Statistics based on the CPS are subject to both sampling and nonsampling error. When
a sample, rather than the entire population, is surveyed, there is a chance that the 
sample estimates may differ from the true population values they represent. The exact
difference, or sampling error, varies depending on the particular sample selected, and
this variability is measured by the standard error of the estimate. There is about a 
90-percent chance, or level of confidence, that an estimate based on a sample will 
differ by no more than 1.6 standard errors from the true population value because of 
sampling error. BLS analyses are generally conducted at the 90-percent level of 
confidence. The state section of this news release preserves the long-time practice of 
highlighting the state union membership rates and levels regardless of their 
statistical significance.

   The CPS data also are affected by nonsampling error. Nonsampling error can occur
for many reasons, including the failure to sample a segment of the population, 
inability to obtain information for all respondents in the sample, inability or 
unwillingness of respondents to provide correct information, and errors made in the
collection or processing of the data.

   Information about the reliability of data from the CPS and guidance on estimating
standard errors is available at www.bls.gov/cps/methods/reliability-of-CPS-estimates.htm.

Union membership questions 

   Employed wage and salary workers are classified as union members if they answer
"yes" to the following question: On this job, are you a member of a labor union or
of an employee association similar to a union? If the response is "no" to that 
question, then the interviewer asks a second question: On this job, are you covered
by a union or employee association contract? If the response is "yes", then these 
people, along with those who responded "yes" to being union members, are classified
as represented by a union. If the response is "no" to both the first and second 
questions, then they are classified as nonunion.

Definitions

   The principal definitions used in this news release are described briefly below.

   Union members. Data refer to members of a labor union or an employee association
similar to a union.

   Union membership rate. Data refer to the proportion of total wage and salary 
workers who are union members.
   
   Represented by unions. Data refer to both union members and workers who report
no union affiliation but whose jobs are covered by a union or an employee 
association contract.

   Nonunion. Data refer to workers who are neither members of a union nor 
represented by a union on their job.

   Usual weekly earnings. Data represent earnings before taxes and other deductions 
and include any overtime pay, commissions, or tips usually received (at the main job
in the case of multiple jobholders). Prior to 1994, respondents were asked how much
they usually earned per week. Since January 1994, respondents have been asked to 
identify the easiest way for them to report earnings (hourly, weekly, biweekly, 
twice monthly, monthly, annually, other) and how much they usually earn in the 
reported time period. Earnings reported on a basis other than weekly are converted 
to a weekly equivalent. The term "usual" is as perceived by the respondent. If the 
respondent asks for a definition of usual, interviewers are instructed to define the
term as more than half of the weeks worked during the past 4 or 5 months.

   Median earnings. The median is the amount which divides a given earnings 
distribution into two equal groups, one having earnings above the median and the 
other having earnings below the median. The estimating procedure places each reported
or calculated weekly earnings value into $50-wide intervals which are centered around
multiples of $50. The actual value is estimated through the linear interpolation of
the interval in which the median lies.

   Wage and salary workers. Workers who receive wages, salaries, commissions,
tips, payment in kind, or piece rates. The group includes employees in both the 
private and public sectors. Union membership and earnings data exclude all self-
employed workers, both those with incorporated businesses as well as those with
unincorporated businesses.

   Full-time workers. Workers who usually work 35 hours or more per week at their
sole or principal job.

   Part-time workers. Workers who usually work fewer than 35 hours per week at their
sole or principal job.

   Hispanic or Latino ethnicity. Refers to people who identified themselves in the 
enumeration process as being Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino. People whose ethnicity 
is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race.