Research library
U.S. Remote Work Statistics for 2026
A compact reference page for writers, business owners, and researchers looking for current, citable U.S. data on home-based work.
Last updated August 25, 2026. The latest nationally published figures cited below cover 2023.
What this page covers
The work behind remote support.
Virtual assistant work does not have a single federal employment category. These figures use the most directly relevant national Census data: people who usually work from home. They describe the environment that makes remote administrative support possible, not a market-size estimate for virtual assistants.
Explore general virtual assistant support ↗At a glance
Five useful figures to quote.
of U.S. workers usually worked from home
The Census reports that 13.8% of U.S. workers usually worked from home in 2023.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2025 ↗people worked from home in 2023
The U.S. total grew from around 9 million people in 2019 to more than 22 million in 2023.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2025 ↗change from 2019 to 2023
The share of workers who usually worked from home was more than twice as high in 2023 as it was in 2019.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2025 ↗median age of home-based workers
Home-based workers had a median age of about 43.5 in 2023, compared with 41.7 for the total workforce.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2025 ↗of home-based workers were below the poverty level
That compared with 9.3% of workers who commuted by public transportation in the Census comparison.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2025 ↗Methodology and sources
How to read these figures.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s January 16, 2025 analysis draws on 2023 American Community Survey data. In this dataset, “worked from home” refers to a worker’s usual means of travel to work, so it should not be treated as a count of occasional remote work, freelancers, or virtual assistant jobs.
Every statistic on this page links to the same primary Census source so readers can review the original data and definitions.
Read the Census analysis ↗Cite this page
The Joyful Harvest Virtual Assistant. “U.S. Remote Work Statistics for 2026.” Updated August 25, 2026. https://thejoyfulharvestva.com/remote-work-statistics
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