Despite high-profile executive demands for a return to the office (RTO), corporate America's push to fully reverse pandemic-era flexibility appears to have stalled.
According to the latest American Time Use Survey released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), more US employees worked from home in 2025 than the year prior—cementing remote work as a permanent fixture of the modern economy.
Key Takeaways
The Shift Continues: More full-time US employees worked from home in 2025 than in 2024, proving that mandatory office recalls are losing steam.
A Permanent Paradigm: The share of remote workers remains more than 10 percentage points higher than pre-pandemic (2019) levels.
The Education Divide: Work-from-home flexibility remains heavily concentrated among highly educated professionals.
By the Numbers: Remote Work's Resurgence
Last year, 34.9% (or 32.5 million) of full-time employees did at least a portion of their job at home on an average day. This marks a notable uptick from 33.4% in 2024.
While CEOs across various industries have spent years attempting to mandate a return to physical offices, the BLS data suggests the pandemic-induced shift is firmly entrenched.
Full-Time Employees Working From Home (Average Day)
2024: 33.4%
2025: 34.9% ⬆️ (32.5 Million Workers)
Flexibility Over Full-Time Remote
The data reveals a nuanced reality: a rising work-from-home percentage doesn't necessarily mean an increase in fully remote roles. Instead, it suggests employers are softening their enforcement of rigid office hours.
The Reality of Hybrid Work: While more people are working from home, the average daily hours spent on remote work continued to decline from its 2021 peak. Meanwhile, overall daily working hours remained stable—indicating that professionals are blending office and home hours more fluidly.
The Educational Divide
While minor increases in remote work were reported across all demographics, the ability to work from home remains deeply divided by educational attainment.
| Education Level | Share of Workers Tracking WFH Hours (2025) |
| Advanced Degree | 56.7% |
| High School Graduate | 19.0% |
Ultimately, as the data shows, the professional landscape has settled into a new normal where flexibility is a prized commodity—and one that companies are finding increasingly difficult to claw back.