U.S. Union Membership Held at 10% in 2025, BLS Reports

U.S. union membership remained essentially unchanged in 2025, with 10.0 percent of wage and salary workers belonging to a union, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The total number of union members stood at 14.7 million, well below the 17.7 million recorded in 1983, the first year of comparable data.

Public-sector workers continued to account for the highest unionization levels, posting a membership rate of 32.9 percent, compared with 5.9 percent in the private sector. Union members earned higher median weekly pay than nonunion workers, at $1,404 versus $1,174, though the agency noted the figures do not control for differences in occupation, industry, or location.

The report includes:

• Highlights from the 2025 data
• Industry and Occupation of Union Members
• Selected Characteristics of Union Members
• Union Representation
• Earnings
• Union Membership by State
• Tables comparing the 2024 and 2025 numbers
• A map of 2025 union membership by state