US unions gain 411,000 members in 2025, biggest jump since 2008

Wage gap between bargaining and right-to-work states more than doubled in past decade

US union membership grew by 411,000 in 2025, the largest single-year increase since 2008, according to a report from the Illinois Economic Policy Institute and the Project for Middle Class Renewal at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Nearly three-quarters of the gain came from states that protect collective bargaining rights, while the 26 “right-to-work” states added a smaller share.

States with collective-bargaining protections added about 305,000 union members in 2025, compared with about 107,000 in right-to-work states, the report found. The 26 right-to-work states, which allow workers covered by a collective agreement to opt out of paying union dues, are home to 3.7 million union members out of 69.7 million workers. The remaining states, which protect collective bargaining, account for 10.9 million union members out of 76.9 million workers — nearly three times the unionization rate of right-to-work states.

The findings come as state legislatures have moved to expand worker protections. In 2025, 19 US states passed 88 laws that broadened workers’ rights, according to a 3 September issue brief from State Futures and the NYU Wagner Labor Initiative. Legislation included paid sick leave and medical leave passed in Virginia, warehouse-worker protections passed in Connecticut, and a ban on nearly all non-compete agreements in Washington.

“Right-to-work” laws allow workers to “free ride” — to work under a collectively bargained contract without paying membership dues. Most right-to-work legislation was passed in the 1940s and 1950s, championed by conservative activist Vance Muse, who coined the term and promoted it in southern states with arguments to preserve Jim Crow-era racial segregation laws, the report noted.

Across the country, 16.5 million workers were represented by unions in 2025, the highest level recorded in 16 years, according to earlier data. Union density — the share of workers who belong to a union — ticked up from 9.9% to 10.0% nationally. The researchers found that labor unions raise average wages by 8% nationally.

Workers in collective-bargaining states earn 8% more, after accounting for cost-of-living differences, than those in right-to-work states, the researchers found. Those workers also experienced 3% slower wage growth from 2019 to 2025. The wage gap between workers in bargaining-protection states and those in right-to-work states has more than doubled over the past decade, widening from 3.2% in 2015 to 6.7% in 2025 — a difference of more than $4,000 per year for the median full-time worker.

“The data consistently shows that workers earn higher wages when they are union members and work in states that protect collective bargaining rights,” said Frank Manzo IV, an economist at the Illinois Economic Policy Institute and a coauthor of the report. “More Americans are turning to unions as a bulwark against the rising cost of living.”

Public approval has tracked the membership gains. A Gallup poll found 71% of Americans approve of labor unions, with 47% saying they want unions to have more influence. Ahead of Labor Day, the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of US labor unions, released poll results showing 52% of the American public said they trust labor unions, compared with 32% who said they trust the Democratic Party and 26% who said they trust the Republican Party.

The AFL-CIO poll also found that young workers trust unions at higher rates, with 57% of non-union young workers stating they would join one if it were an option. “This Labor Day, shit’s too expensive,” said Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, during an address ahead of Labor Day. “That’s what 94% of workers told us, in our new poll. Four out of five say: paychecks aren’t keeping up with the cost of living – groceries, rent, childcare, gas. This is happening, by the way, in a country where CEOs now make an average of 312 times what the median worker makes. CEOs got a 21% raise in one year – who else gets that?”

The report’s authors framed their findings as evidence of broad benefit. “By raising the wage floor, collective bargaining benefits union and non-union workers alike,” said Robert Bruno, professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and director of the Project for Middle Class Renewal. “The data makes clear that a rising tide lifts all boats.”