How Many People Work Remotely in 2024? (FULL Answer)
The world of work looked very different just a few years ago. Commuting to an office five days a week was the default for white-collar jobs. But remote work has seen explosive growth recently, fundamentally shifting how we work. So exactly how many people now work remotely? What’s driving this change, and what does the future of remote work look like? This post dives into the latest statistics and trends around remote work in the US.
Just How Common is Remote Work Today?
Before 2020, working remotely was relatively rare. But the COVID-19 pandemic forced a huge number of office workers to do their jobs from home. Now even as offices reopen, remote work persists on a large scale. Let‘s look at some key stats:
As of mid-2022, about 27% of full-time employees in the US work remotely. That comes out to over 36 million Americans working from home.
66% of employees work remotely at least one day per month. Over half of these remote workers are fully remote, rarely or never going into an office.
16% of companies are now fully remote with no physical offices. 20% are hybrid with a mix of remote and in-office workers.
Clearly, remote work has gone mainstream since early 2020. Tens of millions of Americans now work outside a traditional workplace. While hybrid arrangements are most common, fully remote jobs are on the rise too.
The Growth of Remote Work
Just how drastically has remote work grown in recent years? Here‘s a breakdown:
From 2018 to 2021, the share of full-time remote workers quadrupled from 6% to 26.7%.
Analysts predict over 36 million Americans will work remotely by 2025. That would represent 417% growth since before the pandemic.
Managers expect working from home to be the new normal. 85% see hybrid or fully remote teams as the likely long-term trend after COVID-19 restrictions fade.
As the chart illustrates, remote work experienced steady growth for years before COVID-19. But the pandemic supercharged existing trends and normalized working from home for millions more. Now even with offices reopening, most employees want remote flexibility to continue while managers agree it’s here to stay.
Why Do Employees Want Remote Work?
With so many Americans flocking to remote jobs, it‘s clear workers value flexibility. But what exactly attracts employees to work from home?
Top Benefits of Remote Work
Studies consistently find remote employees enjoy major perks around autonomy, efficiency, and work-life balance:
- 75% report improved work-life balance
- 57% feel less stress
- 56% take fewer sick days
- 54% cite higher morale working remotely
- 50% take fewer overall days off
Beyond self-reported benefits, research indicates remote workers gain back time by skipping commutes and get more done in less time. For example, one study found remote employees handle more tickets and requests per hour.
In a tight labor market where workers have options, flexibility matters. So offering remote or hybrid arrangements provides a competitive edge for hiring and retention.
Downsides of Remote Work
Of course, work from home has some downsides too. Struggles remote employees report facing include:
- 50% feeling lonely at times throughout the week
- 40% struggling to “unplug” after work hours
- 36% having difficulty getting mentored
- 20% communicating less effectively
Solutions like virtual watercooler chat events, mentor check-ins, or communication best practices and tools can help overcome remote struggles like these. But working from home simply won’t be a fit for every employee long-term.
How Remote Work Sentiment Differs Across Groups
While remote work has clearly gone mainstream, preferences around flexibility aren’t uniform. Appetite for working from home varies significantly across demographics and job types.
By Gender
Women express greater interest in ongoing remote work opportunities compared to men:
- 26% of women have switched jobs to gain remote flexibility vs. 20% of men
- 72% of women want their company to allow long-term remote work vs. 65% of men
This likely reflects that women shoulder more family caregiving duties on average. Gaining location flexibility helps moms balance parenting alongside careers.
By Generation
Younger generations tend to be more enthusiastic about remote and hybrid arrangements:
- Millennials are 2X as likely as Baby Boomers to be fully remote employees
- 86% of Millennial managers allow remote work vs. 60% of Boomer managers
Having grown up with more technology, Millennials likely feel higher comfort levels working digitally from home. They also highly value work-life integration and flexibility.
By Industry
The feasibility of remote work also differs significantly across job types:
- Technical fields like IT, computer science, and engineering lead in offering remote flexibility
- Client-facing and hands-on roles in healthcare, manufacturing, construction, and retail trail in remote viability
So while over 1/3 of software developers worked fully remotely even pre-COVID, that figure remains in the single digits for nurses and electricians.
Still, automation and digitization may expand remote potential across fields long-term. 37% of managers expect more roles at their company to transition remote after the pandemic.
The Future of Remote Work
It’s clear that remote and hybrid arrangements are here to stay. Multiple projections point to continued growth in coming years:
- Gartner predicts that 51% of knowledge workers worldwide will be remote by 2025
- PwC finds that 55% of executives plan increased investment in remote connectivity tools
At the same time, completely virtual offices without physical workspaces will likely remain rare. Despite productivity gains, most people don’t want to fully relinquish in-person interaction and collaboration. Flexibility is the goal for most, rather than all-remote exclusivity.
Still, the pandemic proved physical proximity to headquarters or clients isn‘t essential for getting quality work done. Remote innovation during COVID-19 permanently dispelled prior assumptions that on-site contact was mandatory.
So while the future of knowledge work won’t be fully location-independent, it will enable far more flexibility than pre-2020 norms. Expect to see continued evolution in policies, mindsets, technologies, and infrastructure to support hybrid work environments long-term. The breadth and nature of jobs considered “remote viable” will continue expanding as well.
In just a couple years, remote work has gone from relative rarity to representing a quarter of the full-time US workforce encompassing over 36 million people. This transition has fundamentally reshaped how we conceive of and design high-skilled jobs around autonomy, efficiency, and work-life integration. While remote interest varies across groups, broad appetite for location flexibility will drive ongoing adoption of hybrid and virtual arrangements.
