Number of Americans Working From Home Tripled to 17.9% Over 3 Years - Census Bureau

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The number of people in the United States primarily working from home in the period between 2019 and 2021 tripled from 5.7% (9 million people) to 17.9% (27.6 million people), and commuting via public transportation fell by half, the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey revealed.

"Work and commuting are central to American life, so the widespread adoption of working from home is a defining feature of the COVID-19 pandemic," Michael Burrows, statistician in the Census Bureau’s Journey-to-Work and Migration Statistics Branch, said on Thursday. "With the number of people who primarily work from home tripling over just a two-year period, the pandemic has very strongly impacted the commuting landscape in the United States."

In 2019, about 6% of workers living in metropolitan areas (metros) worked from home, compared to 5% living outside of them, a release on the survey said.

The percentage of people working from home in the metro areas increased in 2021 to roughly 19% compared to the 9% of home-based workers outside of them, the release said.

The percentage of workers who worked within their county of residence increased from 72.2% in 2019 to 76.5% in 2021, the release added.

The nearly half (48.3%) of workers in Washington who worked from home last year represent the highest percentage of home-based workers in the United States. Meanwhile, commuting decreased, according to the release.