Which Jobs Are Most Often Done Remotely?
Five years ago, the Covid-19 pandemic triggered a massive shift towards remote work as businesses adapted to lockdowns and social distancing rules. What began as a temporary solution quickly revealed benefits such as increased flexibility, reduced commuting and improved work-life balance for many employees. As a result, even after restrictions eased, remote work remained prevalent, evolving into hybrid models where employees split time between home and the office. Today, remote and hybrid work arrangements have become a standard offering in many industries, reshaping workplace culture and employee expectations with respect to workplace flexibility.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 1 in 5 workers, or almost 35 million Americans, worked remotely at least some time in April 2025. Given the nature of different jobs, there are huge differences in the prevalence of remote work between industries and occupations, however. While working from home is virtually impossible in many service or production occupations, where remote work rates are in the low single digits, most white-collar jobs don’t necessarily require office presence. In many of these occupations, the share of workers who telework at least partly is significantly higher than the roughly 20 percent observed for the overall workforce.
According to BLS, more than 60 percent of the 6.5 million workers in computer and mathematical occupations worked from outside the office at least partly in April 2025, with more than 1 in 3 workers in this field working exclusively remotely. Business and financial occupations as well as legal workers saw similarly high rates of teleworking, with management jobs also high up the list.
Summing up, there is a huge divide in workplace flexibility between occupations. While 36 percent of workers in management, professional and related occupations and 23 percent of workers in sales and office occupations teleworked at least partly in April 2025, service occupations (5.5 percent), construction and maintenance occupations (3.5 percent) and production and transportation occupations (2.8 percent) are seeing considerably lower rates of remote workers.