Union members made up 10.0% of the U.S. workforce in 2025, up just a bit from the historic low of 9.9% the year before, according to the latest annual report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Public-sector workers were five times more likely to be union members (32.9%) than private-sector workers (5.9%). BLS estimated there were 7.3 million public-sector union members, and 7.4 million private sector.
Union membership varies widely by state. States with the highest union density were Hawaii (26.5%), New York (20.6%), Alaska (17.7%), Connecticut (16.5%), and New Jersey (16.2%). Washington (16%) and Oregon (15.9%) came in at numbers 6 and 7 and California (14.5%) tied with Rhode Island for 9th. Least unionized were North Carolina (2.4%), South Dakota (2.7%), South Carolina (2.8%), Arkansas (3.5%), and Utah (3.7%). Idaho (5.0%) tied North Dakota for 38th.
Workers aged 45 to 54 had the highest union rate, at 12.6%, while those 16 to 24 had the lowest, 4.7%, though that was up from 4.3% the previous year.
