The average American worker has been at their job for just under four years, according to January 2024 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).  

Are Americans leaving their jobs earlier? 

Average job tenure, as measured by the median, dropped 15% between 2014 and 2024, falling from 4.6 years to 3.9. The last time it was as low as 3.9 was in 2002. 

From 1983 to 2002, the median job tenure was shorter than it is today. The BLS attributes the rise in the mid-2000s in part to an aging workforce — older workers tend to remain in their positions longer, bringing the median job tenure up. This underscores the drop since 2014, as the workforce has continued to age.

What does average job tenure mean? 

This measure is a snapshot of the average American, but it doesn’t necessarily reflect the experience of most Americans. 

According to BLS, median employee tenure is the point at which half of all workers had more tenure and half had less tenure. 

While the median is just under four years, nearly half of American workers (48.4%) have been at their jobs either less than a year (22.2%) or more than 10 years (26.2%), and 10.1% have been with the same employer for 20+ years.

Subscribe to get unbiased, data-driven insights sent to your inbox weekly.

How does job tenure vary by age? 

Older Americans have longer average tenures, which makes sense — they’ve had more time to build their careers.

Tenure increases with each age group: 

  • 1.4 years for 20- to 24-year-olds 
  • 2.7 years for 25- to 34-year-olds 
  • 4.6 years for 35- to 44-year-olds 
  • 7.0 years for 45- to 54-year-olds 
  • 9.6 years for 55- to 64-year-olds 
  • 9.8 years for people 65 and older 

Despite the longer terms for older workers, median job tenure has dropped for everyone aged 25 and older over the last 10 years. 

Does job tenure vary by industry? 

It does. In 2024, the average government employee’s tenure was 6.2 years; in the private sector, it was 3.5 years.  

Among private sector employees, the longest median tenures are found in mining and gas (5.7 years), manufacturing (4.9), and finance and real estate (4.7). The leisure and hospitality industry has the lowest median tenure at 2.1 years. Note, though, that these medians don’t account for possible contributing factors such as age. 

Read more about American workers and get the data straight to your inbox by signing up for our newsletter. 

Recent economy articles

Read data analyses written by the USAFacts team.

Page sources and methodology

All of the data on the page was sourced directly from government agencies. The analysis and final review was performed by USAFacts.