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Labor Union Representation Statistics for States

View current and historical totals for union membership by state.

Just over 16 million workers were represented by unions in 2016, accounting for 12 percent of the U.S. workforce. Over the past few decades, both union representation and union membership rates have slowly declined. 

As a share of the total workforce, union representation is highest in New York (25 percent), Hawaii (21 percent) and Alaska (20 percent). By comparison, union workers account for less than 5 percent of the workforce in Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina and South Carolina. Factors influencing the presence of labor unions include types of industries employing workers and individual states' right-to-work protections.

The following table lists estimated 2016 labor union statistics by state. Note that a small number of nonunion members are represented by union contracts, so union representation is slightly higher than reported union membership estimates.



State Union Representation Rate Union Represented Employees Union Membership Rate Union Members
Alabama 9.0% 170,000 8.1% 153,000
Alaska 19.9% 59,000 18.5% 55,000
Arizona 5.5% 151,000 4.5% 122,000
Arkansas 5.0% 59,000 3.9% 47,000
California 17.5% 2,796,000 15.9% 2,551,000
Colorado 10.8% 263,000 9.8% 238,000
Connecticut 18.4% 288,000 17.5% 275,000
Delaware 13.3% 56,000 11.4% 48,000
District of Columbia 10.7% 37,000 9.5% 32,000
Florida 7.1% 574,000 5.6% 456,000
Georgia 4.9% 210,000 3.9% 165,000
Hawaii 20.9% 125,000 19.9% 119,000
Idaho 6.8% 47,000 6.1% 42,000
Illinois 15.3% 856,000 14.5% 812,000
Indiana 11.4% 335,000 10.4% 304,000
Iowa 10.5% 153,000 8.9% 129,000
Kansas 10.3% 132,000 8.6% 109,000
Kentucky 13.4% 228,000 11.1% 190,000
Louisiana 4.9% 88,000 4.2% 76,000
Maine 13.5% 77,000 11.4% 65,000
Maryland 12.3% 347,000 11.0% 310,000
Massachusetts 12.9% 407,000 12.1% 381,000
Michigan 15.5% 651,000 14.4% 606,000
Minnesota 15.2% 388,000 14.2% 365,000
Mississippi 8.1% 90,000 6.6% 73,000
Missouri 10.7% 290,000 9.7% 262,000
Montana 13.9% 58,000 11.9% 50,000
Nebraska 8.5% 74,000 7.4% 64,000
Nevada 15.0% 182,000 12.1% 146,000
New Hampshire 11.0% 74,000 9.4% 63,000
New Jersey 16.6% 666,000 16.1% 644,000
New Mexico 8.2% 64,000 6.3% 49,000
New York 25.2% 2,075,000 23.6% 1,942,000
North Carolina 4.1% 174,000 3.0% 129,000
North Dakota 7.0% 25,000 5.5% 20,000
Ohio 14.1% 702,000 12.4% 617,000
Oklahoma 6.6% 97,000 5.4% 80,000
Oregon 15.8% 267,000 13.5% 228,000
Pennsylvania 12.7% 724,000 12.1% 685,000
Rhode Island 16.9% 81,000 15.5% 74,000
South Carolina 2.6% 52,000 1.6% 32,000
South Dakota 7.0% 26,000 5.2% 20,000
Tennessee 6.4% 174,000 5.7% 158,000
Texas 5.3% 606,000 4.0% 462,000
Utah 6.0% 79,000 4.7% 62,000
Vermont 12.9% 37,000 11.5% 33,000
Virginia 6.0% 226,000 4.3% 160,000
Washington 18.7% 577,000 17.4% 539,000
West Virginia 13.2% 88,000 11.8% 79,000
Wisconsin 9.0% 244,000 8.1% 219,000
Wyoming 7.3% 18,000 6.3% 16,000

SOURCE: BLS, 2016 annual averages
Historical State Union Representation Data



Statistics indicate union membership among private sector employees has slowly declined for the past several decades. For the public workforce, union membership has remained stable:

union-membership-private-public.png

 

Mike Maciag is Data Editor for GOVERNING.
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