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Hawaii and New York had highest union membership rates, the Carolinas the lowest, in 2018
February 22, 2019
In 2018, 29 states and the District of Columbia had union membership rates below the U.S. average of 10.5 percent. Twenty states had rates above the U.S. average, and one state had the same rate. Two states had union membership rates over 20.0 percent in 2018: Hawaii (23.1 percent) and New York (22.3 percent). North Carolina and South Carolina had the lowest rates (2.7 percent each).
Union membership rates of employed wage and salary workers by state, 2018 annual averages
State
Union membership rate
Employed union members
Total employed wage and salary workers
Hawaii
23.1%
139,000
601,000
New York
22.3
1,872,000
8,404,000
Washington
19.8
649,000
3,270,000
Alaska
18.5
55,000
299,000
Rhode Island
17.4
83,000
479,000
Connecticut
16.0
268,000
1,677,000
Minnesota
15.0
395,000
2,634,000
New Jersey
14.9
587,000
3,935,000
California
14.7
2,405,000
16,399,000
Michigan
14.5
625,000
4,320,000
Nevada
13.9
191,000
1,376,000
Oregon
13.9
242,000
1,738,000
Illinois
13.8
786,000
5,694,000
Massachusetts
13.7
464,000
3,397,000
Maine
12.9
74,000
573,000
Ohio
12.6
639,000
5,054,000
Pennsylvania
12.6
701,000
5,575,000
Montana
11.8
50,000
427,000
Colorado
11.0
281,000
2,564,000
Maryland
11.0
307,000
2,784,000
Vermont
10.5
31,000
291,000
Delaware
10.3
45,000
434,000
New Hampshire
10.2
68,000
664,000
West Virginia
10.0
68,000
684,000
District of Columbia
9.9
35,000
354,000
Missouri
9.4
251,000
2,675,000
Alabama
9.2
180,000
1,950,000
Kentucky
8.9
161,000
1,812,000
Indiana
8.8
269,000
3,049,000
Wisconsin
8.1
219,000
2,700,000
Iowa
7.7
113,000
1,461,000
Kansas
7.0
90,000
1,283,000
New Mexico
6.8
56,000
812,000
Nebraska
6.6
59,000
882,000
Wyoming
6.5
15,000
235,000
Oklahoma
5.7
90,000
1,583,000
Florida
5.6
484,000
8,702,000
South Dakota
5.6
22,000
387,000
Tennessee
5.5
155,000
2,816,000
Arizona
5.3
156,000
2,943,000
North Dakota
5.2
18,000
343,000
Mississippi
5.1
58,000
1,121,000
Louisiana
5.0
89,000
1,785,000
Arkansas
4.8
56,000
1,176,000
Idaho
4.7
34,000
733,000
Georgia
4.5
201,000
4,466,000
Texas
4.3
512,000
11,989,000
Virginia
4.3
168,000
3,875,000
Utah
4.1
56,000
1,343,000
North Carolina
2.7
118,000
4,331,000
South Carolina
2.7
55,000
2,016,000
Eight states had union membership rates below 5.0 percent in 2018. After the Carolinas, the next lowest rates were in Utah (4.1 percent) and Texas and Virginia (4.3 percent each).
The largest numbers of union members lived in California (2.4 million) and New York (1.9 million). Over half of the 14.7 million union members in the United States lived in just seven states (California, 2.4 million; New York, 1.9 million; Illinois, 0.8 million; Pennsylvania, 0.7 million; and Michigan, Ohio, and Washington, 0.6 million each). These states accounted for only about one-third of wage and salary employment nationally.
These data are from the Current Population Survey. To learn more, see "Union Members — 2018." The union membership rate is the percent of wage and salary workers who were members of unions. The numbers exclude all self-employed workers.
United States Department of Labor
