The overall share of US workers who were union members hovered at 10 percent in 2025, just shy of the prior year’s historic low. However, the national figures obscure large subnational geographic variation. Since 1985, unions have maintained ground in a handful of US states while struggling in others.

All Sectors

Over the four decades between 1985 and 2025, the national union membership rate fell by 8 percentage points, to just over half of its 1985 level of 18 percent. Figure 1 shows the overall union membership rate in each state at five-year intervals from 1985 through 2025, with each estimate reflecting a full-year average. 

Figure 1

During this period, union membership rates fell in every state and the District of Columbia, with just one exception: Vermont, where the rate ticked up by just 0.2 percentage points. New Hampshire saw the smallest percentage-point drop (down 1.8 percentage points to 8.9 percent in 2025), while Hawaii saw the smallest proportional decline, with its 2025 membership rate at 88.8 percent of its 1985 rate. 

The largest percentage-point declines occurred in states with higher union membership rates in 1985, and thus more room to fall. Wisconsin’s union membership rate fell by 15.9 percentage points from a starting rate of 22.3 percent, Michigan’s by 15.5 percentage points from 28.4 percent, and West Virginia’s by 14.2 percentage points from 22.7 percent. 

Some states with comparatively modest percentage-point declines between 1985 and 2025 nevertheless saw their union membership rates fall sharply relative to their 1985 levels. The biggest proportional drop occurred in South Dakota, where the union membership rate in 2025 (2.3 percent) was just over a fifth of its 1985 level (11.2 percent). Other states with large proportional losses were Arkansas, where the union membership rate fell to 25.9 percent of its 1985 value, and Wisconsin, where it fell to slightly less than 28.7 percent of its 1985 value. Wisconsin stands out for having both a larger percentage point drop and a significant proportional reduction.

Private Sector

In the private sector, the nationwide union membership rate was 5.9 percent in 2025. This was just over a third of its 1985 level of 16.5 percent. Figure 2 shows the private sector union membership rate in each state at five-year intervals from 1985 through 2025, with each estimate reflecting a full-year average. 

Figure 2

Geographic distribution in the private sector generally tracks the overall distribution, though private sector union membership rates are typically lower than overall rates. It is unsurprising, then, that Vermont was the only state to see even a modest increase in the private-sector union membership rate over the past four decades — up 0.3 percentage points from 7.1 percent to 7.4 percent. Proportionally, the smallest decline was in Rhode Island, where the private-sector union membership rate in 2025 was still nearly three-quarters of the rate in 1985. South Carolina experienced the smallest percentage-point decline in its rate, but that 1.9 percentage-point reduction accounted for 50 percent of its 1985 level of 3.8 percent.

As with overall membership rates, states that started high had more percentage points to lose. West Virginia saw the largest private-sector percentage-point decrease at 16.7 percentage points; the private-sector union membership rate there went from 22.2 percent in 1985 to just 5.5 percent in 2025. West Virginia’s feat was followed by Indiana’s (down 14.4 percentage points to 6.4 percent) and Michigan’s (down 13.7 percentage points to 9.8 percent).  Proportionally, however, the steepest private-sector union erosion occurred in South Dakota and Arkansas, where membership rates in 2025 were only a fifth of those in 1985.

Public Sector

The nationwide public sector union membership rate stood at 32.9 percent in 2025, roughly 92 percent of its 1985 level of 35.7 percent. Figure 3 shows the public sector union membership rate in each state at five-year intervals from 1985 through 2025, with each estimate reflecting a full-year average. 

Figure 3

Unlike in the private sector, union membership rates increased in 20 states between 1985 and 2025. Eight states had public sector union membership rates above 50 percent in 1985: Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. Of these, membership rates in all but Michigan remained above that 50 percent threshold in 2025.

While considerably more resilient than in the private sector, union membership in the public sector has not been immune to decline. Over the full 40-year period from 1985 to 2025, the majority of states and the District of Columbia experienced declines, though 20 states saw net gains in public-sector union membership rates. The largest percentage point gains were in Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Illinois, with each adding between 8.6 and 10.9 percentage points. The largest proportional gains occurred in Missouri, Illinois, and Hawaii, where public-sector union membership grew to between 121 percent and 126 percent of 1985 levels.

Wisconsin’s public-sector union membership rate tumbled by nearly 29 percentage points between 1985 and 2025, by far the largest percentage-point decline of any state. It was distantly followed by Michigan (down 17.4 percentage points to 39.4 percent in 2025) and Rhode Island (down 16.6 percentage points to 51.3 percent in 2025). Wisconsin’s steepest losses coincided with the 2011 passage of Wisconsin Act 10, which remains one of the most sweeping anti-union pieces of legislation passed by any state in decades. 

Proportionally, South Dakota saw the steepest loss, with its public sector union membership rate contracting to just one-third of its 1985 level. It was followed by North Carolina (37 percent of its 1985 level) and Arkansas (38.1 percent of its 1985 level).

Even accounting for wide subnational diversity, union membership in the US lags behind its international peers. The US state with the highest union membership density, Hawaii, still had a lower union membership rate than every Canadian province except Alberta and Ontario in 2025. The difference is partially attributable to entrenched anti-worker norms and policy choices in the US. 

Unfortunately, the Trump administration appears intent on accelerating anti-worker tendencies at the federal level. As federal protections erode, states and localities become the primary sites for building and defending worker power.