Office work spans a large occupational group, but “office worker” is not one official statistical category. The closest directly matched U.S. BLS group is office and administrative support, supplemented here by clearly labeled broader sales-and-office, employed-worker and work-at-home measures.
Key Office Worker Statistics
The most useful headline figures are:
- In May 2024, 18,218,070 people worked in U.S. office and administrative support occupations.
- In May 2024, office and administrative support occupations had a mean hourly wage of $24.12 in the United States.
- In May 2024, the annual mean wage for office and administrative support occupations was $50,160 in the United States.
- The BLS projects about 2.1 million office and administrative support job openings per year from 2023 through 2033 in the United States.
- In the 2025 annual average, 25.1% of U.S. office and administrative support workers teleworked or worked at home for pay.
- In the 2025 annual average, 74.9% of U.S. office and administrative support workers did not telework or work at home for pay.
- In the first quarter of 2024, the telework rate was 24.9% for U.S. sales and office occupations.
- In 2025, office and administrative support workers spent an average of 82.2% of the workday sitting.
- In 2025, 76.9% of U.S. office and administrative support workers had the choice to sit or stand for critical tasks.
- In 2025, 90.3% of U.S. office and administrative support workers were in jobs requiring on-the-job training.
- In 2025, a high school diploma was required for 76.3% of U.S. office and administrative support workers’ jobs.
- In 2025, routine telework was allowed for 21.5% of U.S. office and administrative support workers’ jobs.
- In May 2024, financial clerks numbered 2,645,000 in the United States.
- In May 2024, executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants had a mean annual wage of $77,060 in the United States.
- In 2024, 80% of U.S. employed people worked on an average weekday.
- In 2024, 33% of U.S. employed people spent time working at home on days worked.
Contents
- Employment scale and outlook
- Telework and hybrid trends
- Sitting and physical work conditions
- Education, training and job requirements
- Pay and office occupation comparisons
- Work time and working at home
Office Worker Employment Statistics and Occupational Outlook
The BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program counted 18,218,070 people in office and administrative support occupations in May 2024. This is a defined occupational group, not a census of everyone who works in an office setting.
The same May 2024 estimate put mean pay at $24.12 per hour and $50,160 per year. The annual figure is calculated for year-round, full-time work from the hourly mean, so it is not a median wage.
The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook projects about 2.1 million openings per year on average from 2023 through 2033. These openings include replacement needs and therefore are not the same as net employment growth. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook and BLS Occupational Employment and Wages—May 2024
In the 2025 CPS annual-average table, 15.920 million people were at work in office and administrative support occupations. BLS notes that the 2025 annual estimates are 11-month averages excluding October 2025 because of the federal government shutdown and are not strictly comparable with earlier annual averages. BLS telework status table
Office Worker Telework Statistics and Hybrid Trends
The 2025 CPS annual average shows that 25.1% of people at work in office and administrative support occupations teleworked or worked at home for pay. The categories were 11.1% teleworking some hours and 14.0% teleworking all hours, while 74.9% did not telework or work at home for pay.
These figures describe reported paid work during the survey reference week, not every job that could potentially be performed remotely. The CPS annual estimate also has the 11-month comparability limitation noted above. People at work by telework status
Broader quarterly comparisons show the direction of telework across related occupational groups:
| Occupational group | Q1 2023 | Q1 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Sales and office occupations | 20.9% | 24.9% |
| Management, professional and related occupations | 33.3% | 37.9% |
| All people at work | 19.6% | 22.9% |
The sales-and-office group is broader than office and administrative support. The overall rate includes non-office occupations, and these quarterly CPS estimates are not seasonally adjusted. BLS, “Telework trends”
Among all teleworkers, the share working some hours from home rose from 45.6% in Q4 2022 to 52.1% in Q1 2024, while the share working all hours from home fell from 54.4% to 47.9%. In Q1 2024, 36.7% of teleworkers worked at least 40 hours from home, down from 42.8% in Q1 2023; 15.2% worked up to 8 hours from home and 18.1% worked 9 to 16 hours.
Office Worker Sitting Statistics and Physical Work Conditions
BLS Occupational Requirements Survey estimates describe the requirements and conditions of sampled jobs. In 2025, office and administrative support workers spent an average of 82.2% of the workday sitting and 17.8% standing.
The figures describe average workday allocation for critical tasks, not a medical exposure threshold. They also do not measure chair ownership, comfort or pain.
Several other physical and environmental measures show that office work is not physically identical across jobs:
- The choice to sit or stand for critical tasks was available to 76.9% of office and administrative support workers in 2025, although this does not prove that workers used the option.
- Low-posture work was required for 21.1% of office and administrative support workers in 2025; the measure does not quantify duration or discomfort.
- Driving was required for 8.5% of office and administrative support workers in 2025, which measures a job requirement rather than commuting.
- Climbing structure-related ramps or stairs was required for 7.0% of office and administrative support workers in 2025, without measuring frequency or intensity.
- Moderate noise exposure was present for 74.2% of office and administrative support workers in 2025; this is an environmental category, not a decibel measurement.
Speaking was required for more than 99.5% of workers in this group in 2025. Speaking was occasionally required for 52.1% and frequently required for 45.2%, using ORS frequency categories rather than minutes spoken. BLS Office and administrative support workers
Office Worker Education, Training and Job Requirements
Office and administrative support roles commonly combine formal education expectations with employer-provided learning. In 2025, 76.3% of these workers were in jobs requiring a high school diploma, 90.3% required on-the-job training, and 55.6% required prior work experience.
These are minimum job requirements for average performance, not measures of workers’ actual educational attainment, training hours or experience. The ORS also reports workplace-organization measures:
- A supervisor was present in the immediate work area for 72.6% of office and administrative support workers in 2025.
- The ability to pause work and take brief unscheduled breaks was available for 66.5% in 2025; this does not measure actual break frequency.
- Work schedules varied for 26.4% in 2025 under the ORS definition of a varying schedule.
- Routine telework was allowed for 21.5% in 2025, a job-allowance measure distinct from the CPS share who actually teleworked.
- Supervising others was required for 8.4% in 2025, which is not the same as the share holding a management title.
Office Worker Pay Statistics Across Office Occupations
May 2024 OEWS estimates show substantial differences among selected office occupations. The values below are mean annual wages, not medians, and employment counts are occupational estimates.
| Occupation | Employment | Mean annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers | 1,495,580 | $71,560 |
| Financial clerks | 2,645,000 | $50,200 |
| Bill and account collectors | 165,020 | $48,370 |
| Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants | 472,770 | $77,060 |
| Medical secretaries and administrative assistants | 830,760 | $45,580 |
| Secretaries and administrative assistants except legal, medical and executive | 1,737,820 | $47,640 |
The table compares named occupations within the office labor market; it does not imply that every office-based role belongs to office and administrative support. The annual means are based on year-round full-time hours. BLS Occupational Employment and Wages—May 2024
Office Worker Work Time and Working-at-Home Data
The American Time Use Survey provides context about when employed people work, but it is not an office-worker-specific employment series. In 2024, 80% of employed people age 15 and over worked on an average weekday, compared with 30% on an average weekend day.
Among full-time employed people, average work time on days worked was 8.1 hours in 2024. The corresponding averages were 8.4 hours on a weekday worked and 5.6 hours on a weekend day worked.
Working at home is an activity measure, so it should not be treated as identical to CPS telework status. The 2024 ATUS results show:
- 33% of employed people spent time working at home on days worked in 2024, compared with 35% in 2023.
- Among employed men, the share spending time working at home on days worked fell from 34% in 2023 to 29% in 2024.
- Among employed women, 36% spent time working at home on days worked in 2024.
- Among employed people age 25 and over with a bachelor’s degree or higher, 50% did some work at home on days worked in 2024.
- Among those with a high school diploma and no college, 18% did some work at home on days worked in 2024.
- On an average weekend day in 2024, multiple jobholders were more likely to work than single jobholders: 50% versus 29%.
The education comparisons are not equivalent to office-worker categories, and the ATUS uses an age-15-and-over reference population and a smaller, lagged diary sample. American Time Use Survey—2024 Results