The US union membership rate held at 10.0% in 2025, covering 14.7 million workers — while Gallup measured 68% public approval of labor unions. That gap between opinion and density is the central fact of American labor statistics. Public sector workers unionize at 32.9%, more than five times the private sector’s 5.9%. Union members’ median weekly earnings ran $230 above nonunion workers. The figures below come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics release of February 18, 2026, and from Gallup’s annual Labor Day polling.
TL;DR
- Union membership was 10.0% in 2025, 14.7 million workers (BLS)
- Representation reached 11.2%, or 16.5 million (BLS)
- Public sector density was 32.9% (BLS)
- Private sector density was 5.9% (BLS)
- In 1983 the rate was 20.1% with 17.7 million members (BLS)
- Union median weekly earnings were $1,404 (BLS)
- Nonunion median weekly earnings were $1,174 (BLS)
- Hawaii leads states at 26.5% (BLS)
- North Carolina is lowest at 2.4% (BLS)
- Workers 45-54 unionize most, at 12.6% (BLS)
- Workers 16-24 unionize least, at 4.7% (BLS)
- 68% of Americans approve of labor unions (Gallup)
- Approval among 18-34s reached 72% (Gallup)
- 30 major work stoppages involved 306,800 workers (BLS)
1. The Rate Held, Which Is Its Own Story
Nothing moved, and after four decades of decline that counts as news. The membership rate was 10.0% in 2025, little changed from the prior year, with 14.7 million members.
The longer arithmetic is harsher than the flat year suggests. In 1983, the first year of comparable data, 17.7 million workers were members at a 20.1% rate. Density has halved since, and the absolute number of members fell by roughly 3 million — in a labor force that grew by tens of millions. Representation runs slightly ahead of membership because some workers are covered by a contract without joining: 16.5 million workers, or 11.2%.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Membership rate, 2025 | 10.0% | BLS |
| Union members | 14.7 million | BLS |
| Represented by a union | 11.2% | BLS |
| Workers represented | 16.5 million | BLS |
| Covered but not members | approx. 1.8 million | Derived from BLS figures |
| Membership rate, 1983 | 20.1% | BLS |
| Members, 1983 | 17.7 million | BLS |
| Change in members since 1983 | down approx. 3.0 million | Derived from BLS figures |
Source: BLS, Union Members Summary 2025.
2. Public Versus Private Is Almost the Entire Story
Most apparent industry patterns dissolve once you separate the sectors. Public sector density is 32.9% against 5.9% in the private sector — more than a five-fold gap.
Read that way, “education is highly unionized” is mostly a statement about public schools, and the private economy’s 5.9% is the number that governs national density because it holds the overwhelming majority of jobs. Any forecast for the total rate is really a forecast for the private sector, where the bargaining agenda increasingly overlaps with remote work and schedule disputes.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Public sector membership rate | 32.9% | BLS |
| Private sector membership rate | 5.9% | BLS |
| Ratio between sectors | more than 5x | BLS |
| Utilities | 17.8% | BLS |
| Transportation and warehousing | 13.6% | BLS |
| Educational services | 13.4% | BLS |
Source: CEPR analysis of the 2025 BLS union data.
3. Geography Splits Wider Than Any Demographic
State variation dwarfs every other cut in this dataset. Hawaii’s 26.5% is roughly eleven times North Carolina’s 2.4% — a spread no age, sex, or race breakdown comes close to matching.
The pattern tracks state labor law and industrial history rather than worker preference, which is why national attitude polling explains so little of it. A worker’s state is a better predictor of union membership than anything about the worker.
| State | Membership rate | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | 26.5% | BLS |
| New York | 20.6% | BLS |
| South Carolina | 2.8% | BLS |
| South Dakota | 2.7% | BLS |
| North Carolina | 2.4% | BLS |
| Hawaii-to-North Carolina ratio | approx. 11x | Derived from BLS figures |
Source: BLS, Union Members Summary 2025.
4. Who Actually Holds a Union Card
The demographic gaps are real but small next to the geographic ones. Workers aged 45-54 unionize at 12.6% against 4.7% for those aged 16-24, the widest demographic split in the release.
The age gradient is the one worth watching, because it describes replacement. Union membership skews toward workers closer to the end of their careers than the beginning, which puts downward pressure on density independent of any organizing outcome. Black workers continue to have the highest rate among the race and ethnicity groups BLS reports.
| Group | Membership rate | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Ages 45-54 | 12.6% | BLS |
| Ages 16-24 | 4.7% | BLS |
| Men | 10.4% | BLS |
| Women | 9.6% | BLS |
| Black workers | 11.4% | BLS |
| White workers | 9.9% | BLS |
| Hispanic workers | 8.9% | BLS |
| Asian workers | 8.7% | BLS |
The age skew mirrors what shows up in employee engagement data, where under-35s also sit at the weak end.
Source: BLS, Union Members Summary 2025.
5. The Wage Gap, and What It Does Not Prove
The headline comparison is large and frequently over-read. Union members’ median usual weekly earnings were $1,404 against $1,174 for nonunion workers, putting nonunion pay at 84% of union pay.
That $230 weekly difference is a raw median comparison. It is not adjusted for occupation, industry, region, firm size, or years of experience, and union membership is concentrated in exactly the sectors and geographies where pay runs higher for unrelated reasons. The gap is a fact about the two populations, not a measured return to membership.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Union median weekly earnings | $1,404 | BLS |
| Nonunion median weekly earnings | $1,174 | BLS |
| Nonunion as share of union | 84% | BLS |
| Weekly difference | $230 | Derived from BLS figures |
| Annualized difference | approx. $11,960 | Derived from BLS figures |
Source: BLS, Union Members 2025 full release.
6. Approval Is at a Generational High and Density Is Not
The two series have pointed in opposite directions long enough that the divergence is structural. 68% of Americans approved of labor unions in August 2025, the fifth consecutive year in the 67% to 71% range, against a membership rate of 10.0%.
Approval is highest among the age group with the lowest membership: 72% of 18-34s approve while 4.7% of 16-24s are members. The partisan spread is the widest cut, running from 90% of Democrats to 41% of Republicans.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Approve of labor unions | 68% | Gallup |
| Consecutive years at 67-71% | 5 | Gallup |
| Democrats | 90% | Gallup |
| Independents | 69% | Gallup |
| Republicans | 41% | Gallup |
| Adults 18-34 | 72% | Gallup |
| Record high, 1953 and 1957 | 75% | Gallup |
| Record low, 2009 | 48% | Gallup |
Source: Gallup, Labor Union Approval Relatively Steady at 68%.
7. Elections Fell While Strikes Rose
The two activity measures moved apart in 2025, which complicates any single narrative about labor momentum. Union election petitions filed by employees fell to about 2,100, the lowest since 2022, while the number of workers involved in major strikes rose 13%.
Unions kept winning the elections they contested, at 81.9%, so the decline is in volume rather than success rate. Employer-filed petitions dropped by roughly half, from 489 to 237. On the strike side, 30 major stoppages involved 306,800 workers, with education and health services accounting for 196,500 of them — a sector mix that looks nothing like the tech layoff cycle running in the same period.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Employee election petitions, FY2025 | approx. 2,100 | NLRB via Ogletree |
| Lowest since | 2022 | NLRB via Ogletree |
| Employer (RM) petitions, FY2025 | 237 | NLRB via Ogletree |
| Same, FY2024 | 489 | NLRB via Ogletree |
| Union win rate in elections | 81.9% | NLRB via Ogletree |
| Major work stoppages, 2025 | 30 | BLS |
| Workers involved | 306,800 | BLS |
| Change from 2024 | up 13% | BLS |
| Education and health services idled | 196,500 | BLS |
| Public administration idled | 82,300 | BLS |
Source: BLS, Major Work Stoppages 2025.
Summary: Union Membership by the Numbers
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Membership rate, 2025 | 10.0% | BLS |
| Union members | 14.7 million | BLS |
| Represented by a union | 11.2% | BLS |
| Workers represented | 16.5 million | BLS |
| Public sector rate | 32.9% | BLS |
| Private sector rate | 5.9% | BLS |
| Membership rate, 1983 | 20.1% | BLS |
| Members, 1983 | 17.7 million | BLS |
| Utilities | 17.8% | BLS |
| Transportation and warehousing | 13.6% | BLS |
| Educational services | 13.4% | BLS |
| Hawaii | 26.5% | BLS |
| New York | 20.6% | BLS |
| North Carolina | 2.4% | BLS |
| Ages 45-54 | 12.6% | BLS |
| Ages 16-24 | 4.7% | BLS |
| Black workers | 11.4% | BLS |
| Union median weekly earnings | $1,404 | BLS |
| Nonunion median weekly earnings | $1,174 | BLS |
| Union approval | 68% | Gallup |
| Approval, 18-34 | 72% | Gallup |
| Major work stoppages | 30 | BLS |
| Workers in major stoppages | 306,800 | BLS |
Methodology and Sources
- Membership, representation, sector, state, demographic, and earnings figures come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics annual Union Members release covering 2025, published February 18, 2026 (summary, full release PDF).
- Strike figures come from the BLS Major Work Stoppages annual release (news release), with independent context from EPI (analysis of 2025 strikes).
- Approval polling comes from Gallup’s annual Labor Day survey, fielded August 1-20, 2025 (Gallup release).
- Election petition counts come from NLRB fiscal-year case data as compiled in legal-industry analysis (Ogletree on FY2025 petitions), and sector analysis from CEPR (union membership in 2025).
- Data watch: BLS union figures come from the Current Population Survey and cover wage and salary workers only, excluding the self-employed. The earnings comparison is an unadjusted median for full-time wage and salary workers and controls for nothing — occupation, industry, region, firm size, and experience all differ systematically between union and nonunion populations, so it cannot be read as the effect of membership. State-level estimates rest on smaller samples than national ones and carry wider error margins, so single-year state movements should be treated cautiously. Major work stoppages count only actions involving 1,000 or more workers, which excludes most strikes by number. NLRB petition counts are fiscal-year figures and do not align with the calendar-year BLS series. Rows marked as derived are arithmetic on published figures.
- Last updated: August 14, 2026. We update this roundup quarterly, and the next major refresh is expected with the BLS union members release covering 2026.