The Census Bureau recently released the American Community Survey estimates of how many workers are telecommuting from home versus getting out of their pajamas, pulling on some clothes, and showing up in person in the office, factory, etc. every day.   We know that in many cases, telecommuting makes sense. But COVID is long over.

Take a wild guess where workers are MOST likely to not be showing up on the job. Yes, Washington, D.C. One of three workers in DC were dialing it in and working from home last year. This is way higher than that of any state. Most federal offices are still running at half empty. They don’t call the nation’s capital Club Fed for nothing.

The map below shows that the highest work-at-home rate is in the blue states.

Colorado ranks first, at 21%, followed by Washington, at 20%. Maryland (19%), Oregon (19%), Massachusetts (18%), Virginia (18%), Utah (18.%), New Hampshire (17%), California (17%) and Minnesota rounded out the top ten states.

Most of the work-at-home states have a disproportionate number of tech industry jobs. We would also say that blue staters are more likely to be doing America’s cushier jobs.

Overall, 15% of US workers worked from home last year, down from 18% in 2022, and as high as 60% at the peak of the Covid lockdowns. But still, almost three times as many workers are working at home (5.7%) than were prior to the pandemic. Tech firms like Google have been complaining publicly it is hard the get their workers to show up at the office.

Woody Allen put it best: 90% of life is just showing up.