Typical Women in the US Workforce, 1900 to 2026: The Numbers by Year
In 1900, 20.6% of American women 16 and over worked for pay, according to the Census. In October 2026, 56.9% of women 16 and over were in the labor force, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This page collects the sourced numbers and links to a page for each year.
What share of women worked, year by year
1880: 15% of women 16 and over had a paid occupation (Census).
1900: 20.6%, or 4,833,630 women (Census).
1910: 25.5% (Census).
1920: 24.0%, or 8,202,901 women (Census).
October 2026: 56.9% of women 16 and over were in the labor force, seasonally adjusted (BLS).
Source: US Census Bureau, Statistics of Women at Work (1907, from the 1900 census), US Census Bureau, Women in Gainful Occupations 1870 to 1920 (Census Monograph IX, 1929), US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, series LNS11300002 (women's labor force participation rate, seasonally adjusted)
Can you compare 1900 with 2026 directly?
Roughly, not exactly. The early censuses asked about 'gainful occupations', meaning the work a person usually did. Today's figure comes from a monthly survey that counts anyone working or looking for work in a given week. The Census Bureau itself warned that the 1910 and 1920 counts weren't fully comparable, because the 1920 census was taken at a different time of year and enumerators were told to count women farm workers differently.
So read the series as a direction: from about 1 in 5 women in 1900 to more than half today.
Source: US Census Bureau, Women in Gainful Occupations 1870 to 1920 (Census Monograph IX, 1929), US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, series LNS11300002 (women's labor force participation rate, seasonally adjusted)
When did women start working outside the home?
Women were in paid work well before 1900: the Census counted 15% of women 16 and over with a paid occupation in 1880. The big shift of the 20th century was married women. In 1900 only 5.6% of married women had a paid occupation, compared with 45.9% of single women.
Source: US Census Bureau, Statistics of Women at Work (1907, from the 1900 census)
Year-by-year pages
1900: who worked, the jobs they held, and how they were treated. 1920: the year of the 19th Amendment, and why the count dipped from 1910. 1950, 1970 and 2000: the postwar decades and the arrival of married women and mothers in paid work. Each page lists its own sources.
Download the data (CSV): Census gainful-occupation shares for women 16 and over (1880, 1900, 1910, 1920) and the BLS labor force participation rate for women 16 and over (October 2026), with sources.
Sources
Frequently asked
What percentage of women worked in 1900?
20.6% of women 16 and over had a paid occupation in 1900, according to the Census.
What percentage of women worked in 1920?
24.0% of women 16 and over, or 8,202,901 women, according to the Census.
What percentage of women work today?
56.9% of women 16 and over were in the labor force in October 2026, seasonally adjusted, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
When did women start working outside the home?
Before 1900. The Census counted 15% of women 16 and over in paid work in 1880. Married women joined in large numbers later in the 20th century.
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