The share of U.S. workers reporting some work-from-home time rose to 37% in 2022, a substantial increase from the pre-pandemic level of 9%. This shift created measurable effects across productivity, security, and environmental impact.
Key Takeaways
- 18.0% of U.S. employees worked from home in April 2021 (percentage of employed people who worked from home at least one day)
- 37% of U.S. workers reported working from home at least some of the time in 2022 (share of workers, up from 9% pre-pandemic)
- 36.8% of Canadian employers reported having employees who worked from home at least once per week in 2021 (share of establishments)
- $55.7 billion global market size for video conferencing in 2023 (revenue for video conferencing software and services)
- $12.9 billion global market size for collaboration software in 2023 (revenue estimate)
- $33.7 billion global market size for endpoint security software in 2023 (cybersecurity spending that includes work-from-home endpoints)
- 44% reduction in commute-related carbon emissions for remote workers in the United States (modeled reduction in commuting emissions for people working from home)
- 72% lower commuting emissions for one remote work policy scenario compared with daily commuting (modeled percentage change)
- 6% reduction in PM2.5 exposure during stay-at-home periods for some urban areas in the United States (air quality change estimate tied to reduced activity)
- Remote workers reported a 15% increase in self-reported productivity during 2021 compared to office-based work (survey-based productivity change)
- WFH improved employee retention by 18% in a large-scale experiment of remote-capable roles (retention/turnover measurement)
- Employees working from home in a 2020 study showed an average 13% productivity gain in task output (experimental productivity estimate)
- $1,500 average annual savings per employee in office footprint costs under remote/hybrid policies (estimated cost savings per employee reported by a corporate workplace study)
- 45% of companies reported lower real estate costs after implementing hybrid work in 2022 (share of firms citing cost reductions)
- US employers spent $120 billion on remote work technology and services in 2021 (industry spending estimate)
More workers are working from home, boosting productivity and retention while driving major growth in remote work technology and cybersecurity.
Related reading
- Remote And Hybrid Work In IndustryWorking From Home Productivity Statistics
- Remote And Hybrid Work In IndustryRemote And Hybrid Work In The Big Data Industry Statistics
- Remote And Hybrid Work In IndustryWork From Home Productivity Statistics
- Remote And Hybrid Work In IndustryRemote And Hybrid Work In The Information Technology Industry Statistics
01 · Category
User Adoption4 stats
01
18.0% of U.S. employees worked from home in April 2021 (percentage of employed people who worked from home at least one day)
02
37% of U.S. workers reported working from home at least some of the time in 2022 (share of workers, up from 9% pre-pandemic)
03
36.8% of Canadian employers reported having employees who worked from home at least once per week in 2021 (share of establishments)
04
32% of employees in India worked from home at least one day per week in 2021 (percentage, survey-based reporting)
Interpretation
User Adoption Interpretation
User adoption of working from home has moved from a niche practice to mainstream use, with shares rising to 18.0% of U.S. employees in April 2021 and 37% of U.S. workers in 2022, while Canada shows 36.8% of establishments with weekly home work and India reaches 32% working from home at least one day per week in 2021.
02 · Category
Market Size9 stats
01
$55.7 billion global market size for video conferencing in 2023 (revenue for video conferencing software and services)
02
$12.9 billion global market size for collaboration software in 2023 (revenue estimate)
03
$33.7 billion global market size for endpoint security software in 2023 (cybersecurity spending that includes work-from-home endpoints)
04
$53.6 billion global market size for cloud access security broker (CASB) in 2023 (security market relevant to remote/cloud access)
05
$16.0 billion global market size for identity and access management (IAM) in 2023 (software/services estimate supporting remote access)
06
$29.7 billion global market size for cloud security in 2023 (revenue estimate; applicable to WFH/cloud usage)
07
$7.2 billion global market size for remote monitoring and management (RMM) in 2023 (IT management for distributed endpoints)
08
$24.1 billion global market size for SD-WAN in 2023 (networking market supporting remote connections)
09
$4.9 billion global market size for secure web gateways in 2023 (security market used for remote web traffic control)
Interpretation
Market Size Interpretation
In 2023, the market size for work-from-home relevant technologies spans from $12.9 billion for collaboration software to $55.7 billion for video conferencing, showing how remote work is driving substantial and diversified spending across communication, collaboration, and security categories.
03 · Category
Environmental Impacts8 stats
01
44% reduction in commute-related carbon emissions for remote workers in the United States (modeled reduction in commuting emissions for people working from home)
02
72% lower commuting emissions for one remote work policy scenario compared with daily commuting (modeled percentage change)
03
6% reduction in PM2.5 exposure during stay-at-home periods for some urban areas in the United States (air quality change estimate tied to reduced activity)
04
Remote work reduced road traffic by 40% in some metropolitan regions during lockdown periods (traffic change associated with reduced commuting)
05
Global energy-related CO2 emissions were approximately 2 billion tonnes lower in 2020 due to reduced activity, with partial attribution to mobility drops (estimate from global energy/emissions analysis)
06
20–30% of working-from-home emissions can come from home energy use under certain grids and heating/cooling patterns (range estimate for home energy share)
07
Remote-work-related commuting reductions produced an estimated 30% drop in total household transport emissions in one European case study (study result for remote-work adoption)
08
Telework reduced urban nitrogen dioxide by about 3–10% in several OECD city analyses (pollutant change from remote/hybrid work adoption)
Interpretation
Environmental Impacts Interpretation
The environmental impact data show that working from home can sharply reduce harmful emissions, with commute-related carbon emissions dropping by 44% in the United States and some scenarios cutting commuting emissions by 72%, while air quality benefits like a 6% reduction in PM2.5 exposure during stay-at-home periods underscore the overall potential for cleaner urban environments.
More related reading
04 · Category
Performance Metrics6 stats
01
Remote workers reported a 15% increase in self-reported productivity during 2021 compared to office-based work (survey-based productivity change)
02
WFH improved employee retention by 18% in a large-scale experiment of remote-capable roles (retention/turnover measurement)
03
Employees working from home in a 2020 study showed an average 13% productivity gain in task output (experimental productivity estimate)
04
Absenteeism decreased by 1.5 days per year on average in a remote-work policy evaluation (days per employee metric)
05
Remote meeting time increased by 22% in 2021 among companies that adopted hybrid schedules (organizational communications metric)
06
Security incidents caused by remote access vulnerabilities accounted for 41% of breaches in a 2023 Verizon data breach investigation report (share of breaches involving remote access vectors)
Interpretation
Performance Metrics Interpretation
Across performance metrics, working from home is consistently linked to measurable gains, including a 15% self-reported productivity increase in 2021, a 13% rise in task output in 2020, and a 1.5 day annual reduction in absenteeism.
05 · Category
Cost Analysis7 stats
01
$1,500average annual savings per employee in office footprint costs under remote/hybrid policies (estimated cost savings per employee reported by a corporate workplace study)
02
45% of companies reported lower real estate costs after implementing hybrid work in 2022 (share of firms citing cost reductions)
03
US employers spent $120 billion on remote work technology and services in 2021 (industry spending estimate)
04
WFH increased household internet costs by about $10–$20 per month on average for remote-capable workers in surveys (incremental out-of-pocket costs range)
05
Cybersecurity spending increased by 11% year-over-year in 2022 among organizations supporting remote work (spending growth metric)
06
Organizations reported a 9% increase in electricity and facility costs attributed to remote/hybrid workloads balancing (facility/utility cost impact metric)
07
In 2020, 23% of firms reported direct costs rising due to remote work compliance and IT support (share of firms)
Interpretation
Cost Analysis Interpretation
From a Cost Analysis perspective, hybrid work is cutting office footprint expenses with 45% of companies reporting lower real estate costs in 2022 and averaging $1,500 in annual savings per employee, even as investments in remote infrastructure rise, such as $120 billion spent on remote work technology in 2021 and a notable 11% year over year increase in cybersecurity spending in 2022.
report visual · Comparison
How much of the workforce works from home?
WFH adoption is already widespread across multiple countries, with roughly a third or more reporting work-from-home at least weekly or some time.
37% of U.S. workers reported working from home at least some of the time in 2022 (share of workers, up from 9% pre-pande37%
36.8% of Canadian employers reported having employees who worked from home at least once per week in 2021 (share of esta
36.8%
32% of employees in India worked from home at least one day per week in 2021 (percentage, survey-based reporting)
32%
18.0% of U.S. employees worked from home in April 2021 (percentage of employed people who worked from home at least one
18%
source-verifiedbls.gov · rand.org · www150.statcan.gc.ca · nber.org2022
Reference
Cite This Report
This report is designed to be cited. We maintain stable URLs and versioned verification dates. Copy the format appropriate for your publication below.
APA
Lukas Bauer. (2026, February 13). Working From Home Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/working-from-home-statistics
MLA
Lukas Bauer. "Working From Home Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/working-from-home-statistics.
Chicago
Lukas Bauer. 2026. "Working From Home Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/working-from-home-statistics.
Sources & references
34 datasets cited across this report · attribution is report-level
+14 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)