Hawaii Has The Highest Rate of Union Membership 🌺

What We're Showing

The rate of union membership by U.S. state in 2023.

Figures include wage and salary workers, and come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, updated as of January 2024.

Key Takeaways

• States with the highest rates of union membership, including Hawaii (24.1%), New York (20.6%), and Washington (16.5%), have strong histories in unions and relatively strong labor laws that support union organizing.
• On the other hand, the 15 states with the lowest rates of union membership, including South Carolina (2.3%) and North Carolina (2.7%) all have right-to-work laws, which prohibit agreements between employers and unions that require workers to pay union dues as a condition of employment.
• Overall, the proportion of American workers who are union members has declined significantly in recent decades, dropping from 20.1% in 1983 to just 10% in 2023.