Remote Work in the US Is Uneven by Occupation
Insights | New Stardom
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Remote and hybrid work remain part of the US labor landscape, but access to that flexibility depends heavily on what kind of work people do.
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According to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and reported via Statista, 34.7 million Americans, more than one in five workers, teleworked at least part of the time in April 2025. But the share of remote workers varies sharply across occupational groups. While more than 60 percent of workers in computer and mathematical roles worked remotely, fewer than 6 percent of service workers did the same.
The gap is visible across multiple categories. Among management, professional, and related occupations, 36 percent of workers reported some remote activity. In sales and office roles, the figure was 23 percent. By contrast, only 5.5 percent of service workers, 3.5 percent of construction and maintenance workers, and 2.8 percent of production and transportation workers reported working remotely at all.
Legal, business, and financial roles also remain among the most telework-friendly. In these fields, both hybrid and fully remote options are common, particularly in firms that adopted flexible policies after the pandemic and retained them as part of long-term workplace strategy.
The data confirms that hybrid work is not a general reality across the labor market. It is concentrated in knowledge-based and administrative fields that allow tasks to be carried out on digital platforms. Most occupations involving manual labor, physical presence, or in-person services remain tied to the workplace.
These disparities reflect structural divisions in the US workforce. While policy debates often focus on remote work as a cultural shift, the underlying reality is that most flexibility gains have gone to white-collar workers.
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Statista, based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
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