As of March 2025, 22.8% (36.1 million) of people in the U.S. are either hybrid or fully-remote workers. Before 2020, only 6% of U.S. workers carried out their job from home.
With so many millions of employees now working from home, the boundary between a work injury and a household mishap is often blurred.
In this study, we’ll consider the most common types of home working injury, the effects those injuries have on the afflicted workers, and the roles and industries that feature the highest number of home workers. We’ll also tell you how to steer clear of injuries while working from home, with remote worker injury claims on the rise.
Remote Worker Injuries
Injury claims among remote employees have soared by 24% to 54%, with the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) reporting that most cases are tied to musculoskeletal strain and stress-related conditions.
While remote roles have redefined flexible and convenient working for millions of employees, they’ve also created an unexpected series of health challenges. Studies show that up to 61% of remote workers report worsening musculoskeletal pain: stiff necks, sore shoulders, lower back pain, and wrist strain caused by long hours at non-ergonomic desks or kitchen tables.
Additionally, 41% of remote workers say they’ve developed or worsened back, shoulder, or wrist pain while working from home, reflecting the toll of improvised work setups and prolonged sitting.
Repetitive strain injuries like carpal tunnel and tendonitis, alongside routine complaints about eye strain and computer vision syndrome, are becoming norms for employees glued to screens.
Even household hazards (such as loose cables or cluttered workspaces) have led to slips, trips, and falls during the workday. Workers’ compensation data reinforces this trend, with the bulk of remote worker claims tied to musculoskeletal disorders and stress-related conditions.
Overall, these findings confirm that a home workspace is often dangerous. This underscores the need for employers, insurers, and policymakers to address ergonomics and mental health, and for the provision of clearer guidelines regarding remote work injury coverage.
Remote Worker Mental Health Issues
While remote work provides flexibility and autonomy, it also features a serious mental health downside. Fully remote employees report higher daily work stress levels: 45% recently suffered with anxiety; significantly less (38–39%) hybrid and in-office workers were similarly afflicted.
Generally, depression is on the rise: 40% of fully remote and 38% of hybrid workers report depressive symptoms, higher than the 35% experienced by in-person staff.
Though productivity often increases in remote setups, well-being doesn’t always follow: only 36% of full-time remote workers say they’re truly thriving, compared to 42% of hybrid employees.
Add to that the emotional toll, with 25% of remote workers saying their social skills have deteriorated due to mounting isolation. 66% blame reduced social connection, and 57% cite increased loneliness as reasons they’re suffering worse mental health.
So, remote working worsens mental well-being. But which industries feature the highest proportion of remote workers?
Industries Featuring The Highest Proportion of Remote Workers
Remote work is disproportionately distributed across different industries. Our data highlights which sectors have embraced it the most.
The financial and insurance industry leads the way, with 30% of employees fully remote and another 38% observing hybrid schedules.
Close behind are professional and business services (23% fully remote), utilities (23%), and the information sector, including tech (22%); in this sector, hybrid arrangements are particularly common for nearly half the workforce.
Creative fields like arts and entertainment (19% fully remote) and essential sectors such as health care and social assistance (18%) and government (17%) have also reverted to remote work in significant numbers.
By contrast, industries like real estate and education lag, with only 9% of employees working fully remote. This data confirms that knowledge and service-based sectors remain most compatible with work-from-home models. Industries that demand a large amount of physical presence naturally continue to operate largely on-site.
That’s how it looks from an industry-by-industry perspective. But which states favour remote work more than others?
The States Where Remote Work Is Most Common
Remote work adoption varies widely across the country. When it comes to working from home, some states are emerging as clear leaders.
The District of Columbia tops the list, with more than half of its workforce (56.5%) working from home, a figure that reflects its concentration of federal, professional, and knowledge-based jobs.
Although some way behind, Colorado (31.7%), Massachusetts (29.4%), and Maryland (27.6%) also rank highly when it comes to accommodating remote work: this emphasizes the extent to which professional services and tech-heavy economies drive remote work opportunities.
Other states with strong remote worker numbers include Oregon, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey, Arizona, and California, all of which feature a low- to mid-20% percentage of remote workers.
Combined, this data clearly highlights a geographic divide. Regions with higher concentrations of white-collar and knowledge-driven industries are far more likely to support remote work. On the other hand, states with more hands-on or service-heavy economies retain traditional on-site models.
Remote Work: A Gender Comparison
In 2025, there’s a clear gender divide when it comes to work arrangements. Women are more likely than men to work fully remote (25% vs. 19%), reflecting their stronger presence in professional, administrative, and care-related roles that are telework-compatible.
Men, on the other hand, are more heavily employed in industries that require a physical presence, such as construction and transportation: the upshot of this is that 61% of male workers remain fully on-site compared to 54% of women. (Hybrid roles are more evenly shared between women (21%) and men (20%).)
Gender disparities are also pronounced if we look at work-related injuries. Women working remotely face higher rates of musculoskeletal strain and repetitive motion disorders. In fact, women are over 2.3 times more likely to report issues like neck, lower back, and shoulder pain compared to men, and suffer 63% of all work-related repetitive motion injuries.
Whereas men working on-site are more likely to sustain injuries from falls, heavy lifting, and equipment-related accidents, and make up 60-70% of these types of injury claims.
As the data shows, gender not only shapes where people work but also the distinct risks men and women face, which means gender- and setting-related safety strategies are key. And it’s relatively easy to resolve a lot of work-related issues that can lead to injuries.
How To Prevent Work-Related Injuries
Simple workplace adjustments can make a massive difference. Since data shows that 61.2% of home-based workers report musculoskeletal discomfort, which is exacerbated by the use of a laptop in a person’s lap or while sitting on a sofa, there are some easy wins available.
To protect remote teams, employers should promote proper ergonomics by insisting on adjustable chairs, eye-level monitors, and neutral wrist positioning. They should also encourage hourly micro-breaks so an employee can stretch and move around.
Ideally, all workers should also observe the 20-20–20 rule. This rule stipulates that, every 20 minutes, workers using a computer or tablet screen should look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. By doing this, workers can dramatically reduce eye strain.
Investing in such ergonomic/eye-saving basics isn’t just a matter of comfort. It’s also smart business, and drastically reduces the odds of long-term injury while boosting productivity and reducing compensation claims.
Remote Work Is Here To Stay, But Better Practices Are Essential
By March 2025, remote workers made up 22.8% (36 million people) of the U.S. workforce. Thai represented a seismic shift from the mere 6% of people who worked remotely before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Such a rapid adoption of remote work has transformed how and where Americans earn a living, but there are inherent safety problems that still need to be resolved.
The line between work-related injuries and household accidents is often blurred, with injury claims among remote employees rising by up to 54%, and with 61% of remote employees reporting worsening pain.
Much of this increase is due to musculoskeletal issues: neck, shoulder, and back strain, issues that traditional office environments once mitigated via ergonomic setups and structured routines. By better implementing the same principles at home, many of the injuries in question can be avoided.
Repetitive strain injuries from remote working (such as carpal tunnel syndrome and tendonitis) are also rife, as are complaints regarding eye strain and computer vision syndrome among employees spending entire workdays glued to screens. Even everyday household hazards, such as loose electrical cords or cluttered living spaces, are causing on-the-job slips, trips, and falls.
And the risks aren’t just physical. Remote work can feature significant mental health demands. Fully remote workers report higher stress levels than their hybrid and in-office counterparts: 45% suffer bouts of anxiety compared to 38–39% of hybrid or in-person employees. Only 36% of full-time remote workers say they are thriving, compared to 42% of hybrid workers.
The data suggests that the remote work isolation factor is a huge issue, with two-thirds of remote employees citing reduced social connection and more than half linking loneliness to their worsening mental health.
Anxiety and depression rates are higher among fully remote and hybrid workers alike, showing that increased productivity doesn’t necessarily mean improved well-being.
In remote roles, women grapple more with chronic strain and ergonomic issues, while men in on–site roles face immediate, environment–driven hazards, highlighting the need for gender– and setting–specific safety strategies
The finance and insurance industries are those most committed to teleworking, with 30% of employees working fully remote and 38% of employees observing hybrid schedules.
Professional and business services, utilities, and the information sector are all heavily committed to remote working, with nearly half of employees combining remote and site-based schedules. By contrast, some industries demand a certain level of physical presence, so it’s perhaps unsurprising that industries such as real estate, healthcare, and education accommodate fewer remote workers.
State-level data highlights another key differential: the District of Columbia leads the U.S. with 56.5% of its workforce at home; tech-heavy or professional-economy states like Colorado, Massachusetts, and Maryland also show heavy homeworking commitment. In contrast, states featuring service-heavy or hands-on industries remain largely rooted in traditional, on-site models.
And the gender factor is also crucial. Women are more likely than men to work fully remote (25% vs. 19%), reflecting their greater presence in telework-compatible professional, administrative, and care-related fields.
Whereas men dominate industries that demand a physical presence, which means 61% are fully on-site compared to 54% of women. These work patterns are mirrored by injury trends: female remote workers are 2.3 times more likely than men to suffer musculoskeletal (neck, back, and shoulder) discomfort.
Women also make up 63% of all repetitive motion injury cases, which are common in screen-based roles. Conversely, men account for the majority of acute workplace accidents: 60–70% of injury claims in construction, transportation, and warehousing are tied to slips, falls, or machinery.
Ultimately, remote work has facilitated a working flexibility that has, in turn, created multiple risks regarding ergonomics, mental health, and safety.
Simple interventions, such as the provision of ergonomic chairs, more micro-breaks, or the adoption of the 20-20-20 rule to reduce eye strain, can all reduce injury rates. One thing’s for sure: to enable long-term sustainability, employers, insurers, and policymakers must recognize the ‘home office’ as a permanent part of the modern workplace.
Maintaining and improving employee wellbeing means focusing on physical and mental health, and understanding what legally counts as a workplace injury in the age of remote work.
At John Foy, we know that a work-related injury can leave you with costly medical bills, lost wages, and uncertainty about your future. If you’ve been hurt at work (home or on-site!), we can help you pursue compensation.
