These Are The American Jobs With The Highest Union Membership

In 1983, one-in-five American adults (20%) were in a union. By 2023, only one-in-ten (10%) were in a union, a record low for the country. However, there are still some industries that see rates of union membership that are on the higher end of the spectrum.

This chart, via Visual Capitalist's Pallavi Rao, shows the rate of union membership of those employed per industry in America.

Data for this graphic is sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for 2023.

Government Workers are Often in Unions

Two out of five local government employees are in a union, the highest rate across American industries, as classified by the BLS.

A significant portion of these employees are police officers, as protective services have some of the highest union rates (32%) by occupation.

*Excluding the internet. Figures rounded.

Meanwhile, the utilities sector (energy, water supply, sewage removal) has the highest union membership in the private sector (20%) though this works out to about 200,000 members.

About 16% of the transport and warehousing industry—one million strong—belongs to a union. Since 2022, workers at Amazon warehouses in particular have organized into the Amazon Labor Union to protest unsafe working conditions.

Across the top 10 sectors by union membership rate, union employees out-earn non-union employees in eight of them. The wage difference is most noticeable in film & sound jobs, where a union employee makes nearly $1,000 dollars more per week.

*Excluding the internet. Figures rounded. Wage data available here.

On the other end of the scale, professional jobs—accounting, legal, tech, and finance—have the lowest rates of union membership (1%). And in them, non-union members out-earn their union peers.

If you liked this article, check out Visualizing the American Workforce as 100 People for quick insight into the most common jobs people work at.