Non-Compete Statistics 2026: How Many Workers Are Bound and What It Costs Them

Higher pay means higher odds, with 32% of the top wage decile bound. But the bottom decile still sits at 9%, which is hard to explain by trade secrets alone.

Professional services (33%) and information and communication (30%) lead. Even accommodation and food services shows 10%, a sector with little confidential information to protect.

Engineers (38%) and computer and math workers (36%) are the most likely to be bound. Sales follows at 28%, often because employers worry about client relationships walking out the door.

The Federal Reserve survey shows the same pattern with lower overall rates: professional services at 19.2% and finance at 18.2%, against 11.4% for all adult workers.

How many US workers are bound by noncompetes: the main national estimates

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, New data on non-compete contracts and what they mean for workers; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Noncompete agreements, bargaining, and wages: evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (Rothstein and Starr), Monthly Labor Review; University of Chicago, Journal of Law and Economics, Noncompete Agreements in the US Labor Force (Starr, Prescott and Bishara), Journal of Law and Economics, Vol. 64, No. 1; U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Economic Policy, Non-compete Contracts: Economic Effects and Policy Implications; Federal Trade Commission, FTC Announces Rule Banning Noncompetes; U.S. Government Accountability Office, Noncompete Agreements: Use is Widespread to Protect Business' Stated Interests, Restricts Job Mobility, and May Affect Wages (GAO-23-103785). Download as image

Noncompetes are still signed where states refuse to enforce them

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, New data on non-compete contracts and what they mean for workers; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Noncompete agreements, bargaining, and wages: evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (Rothstein and Starr), Monthly Labor Review; U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Economic Policy, Non-compete Contracts: Economic Effects and Policy Implications. Download as image

The federal noncompete ban: what happened to the FTC rule

Source: Federal Trade Commission, Noncompete Rule (rule page and related actions); Federal Trade Commission, FTC Announces Rule Banning Noncompetes; Federal Trade Commission, Federal Trade Commission Files to Accede to Vacatur of Non-Compete Clause Rule; Federal Trade Commission, FTC Takes Action to Protect Workers from Noncompete Agreements; Federal Trade Commission, FTC Chairman Ferguson Issues Noncompete Warning Letters to Healthcare Employers and Staffing Companies. Download as image

How many workers have non-compete agreements?

It depends on who is counting and how. The FTC estimate of 30 million is the figure you will see quoted most, and it lines up with the 18% current rate found by Starr, Prescott and Bishara. The Federal Reserve's 2022 household survey came in lower, at 11.4% of adult workers.

Part of the gap comes from the question itself. Many people simply don't know if they signed one. In the Federal Reserve sample, a share of respondents said they weren't sure, and those answers were dropped. The clause is often a paragraph buried in an onboarding packet or a separate agreement handed over with tax forms on day one, so survey answers may understate the real number.

The more telling figure is the lifetime one. At 38%, more than a third of the workforce has agreed to stay out of a competitor's way at some point. If you change jobs a few times over a career, the odds you will face this clause are high.

Do non-competes only cover high earners?

No. Pay matters, but the clause reaches well down the wage ladder. In the BLS data, 32% of workers in the top hourly wage decile were bound, and so were 9% in the lowest decile. The U.S. Treasury reported in March 2016 that 14% of workers earning less than $40,000 had one, and 15% of workers without a four-year degree.

Think about what that means for a cashier or a line cook. They rarely hold trade secrets or a client book. A non-compete in that job mostly limits where they can work next, which weakens their hand when asking for a raise.

By occupation, engineers (38%), computer and math workers (36%) and sales staff (28%) top the list. If you work in one of these fields, assume the paperwork will include one and read it before your start date, not after.

Industry tells a similar story. Professional services (33%) and information and communication (30%) lead the BLS figures. At the other end, legal occupations sit at just 4%, a field where professional ethics rules already bar most non-competes for lawyers.

Is the FTC non-compete ban in effect in 2026?

No. The FTC announced its Non-Compete Clause Rule in April 2024, but a federal court stopped it on August 20, 2024, before it took effect. On September 5, 2025 the FTC voted to accept that ruling, and a Federal Register notice on February 12, 2026 removed the rule.

That leaves state law in charge. The FTC has shifted to case-by-case enforcement. In September 2025 it proposed an order freeing nearly 1,800 Gateway Services employees from their non-competes, and its chairman sent warning letters to healthcare employers and staffing firms. Those actions target specific companies. They do not void the clause in your contract.

The FTC's earlier projections show what was at stake. It estimated a ban would raise the average worker's earnings by $524 a year and add $400-$488 billion in wages over ten years. Treat those as forecasts, not results, since the rule never ran.

Why do employers still use non-competes in states that won't enforce them?

California, North Dakota and Oklahoma have long refused to enforce non-competes, yet workers there still sign them. (Minnesota joined them in 2023, after these surveys were taken.) The Federal Reserve survey found a 7.0% rate in those states, against 12.0% elsewhere. BLS data showed 15.0% compared with 18.5%.

The reason is simple. Most people never test the clause in court. If you believe you are bound, you may turn down a job at a rival or never apply, and the employer gets the effect without ever enforcing anything. A void clause can still change your behavior if you don't know it is void.

So check your state's rules before assuming the worst, and check which state's law the contract picks. A choice-of-law clause pointing to another state can complicate things, especially for remote workers.

Here is a common case. A software developer living in California signs an offer from a company based in another state, and the contract says that state's law governs. If the developer later joins a competitor, the old employer may sue at home and argue its own law applies. California has laws aimed at exactly this, but a fight in another state's court still costs time and money. Knowing this before signing gives you a reason to ask for the clause to be removed or narrowed.

Can you negotiate a non-compete?

Usually more than you think. Only 10% of employees try, so most employers never hear a counter. The best time is before you accept the offer, which is why seeing the clause only afterward, as about 1 in 3 workers do, puts you at a disadvantage.

Ask to see every agreement before you say yes. Then focus on the terms that matter most to you:

• Shorter duration, so the restriction ends sooner after you leave.
• A narrower definition of competitor, listing named companies or a specific product line instead of a whole industry.
• A smaller geographic area tied to where you actually worked.
• Pay during the restricted period, sometimes called garden leave.
• A clause that drops the restriction if you are laid off or fired without cause.
• Swapping the non-compete for a narrower non-solicit that only covers clients you personally served.

What should a business take from these numbers?

In a 2023 GAO survey of 446 private-sector employers, over half said at least some of their workers had non-competes. If you run a small company, ask if you really need one for every role. A blanket clause on hourly staff draws regulatory attention and is often unenforceable anyway.

Narrower tools usually protect what you care about. A solid confidentiality agreement, a client non-solicit for sales staff and clear IP assignment terms cover most real risks, and they are easier to defend if challenged.

Also keep track of who signed what. A clause handed out after someone has already accepted the job is the kind of practice regulators and courts look at closely, and in some states it may not hold up at all.

Sources and method

Every number on this page comes from the sources below, each opened and read on or before October 18, 2026. A second, independent review checked every figure against its source and corrected anything that did not match. Figures that could not be confirmed were left out.

1. Federal Trade Commission, FTC Announces Rule Banning Noncompetes (April 23, 2024)
2. Federal Trade Commission, Fact Sheet on FTC's Proposed Final Noncompete Rule (April 23, 2024 (status note updated after September 5, 2025))
3. Federal Trade Commission, Noncompete Rule (rule page and related actions) (Page as read on 2026-10-18; lists actions through February 12, 2026)
4. Federal Trade Commission, Federal Trade Commission Files to Accede to Vacatur of Non-Compete Clause Rule (September 5, 2025)
5. Federal Trade Commission, FTC Takes Action to Protect Workers from Noncompete Agreements (September 4, 2025)
6. Federal Trade Commission, FTC Chairman Ferguson Issues Noncompete Warning Letters to Healthcare Employers and Staffing Companies (September 10, 2025)
7. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, New data on non-compete contracts and what they mean for workers (June 21, 2023 (2022 SHED data))
8. University of Chicago, Journal of Law and Economics, Noncompete Agreements in the US Labor Force (Starr, Prescott and Bishara), Journal of Law and Economics, Vol. 64, No. 1 (2021)
9. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Noncompete agreements, bargaining, and wages: evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (Rothstein and Starr), Monthly Labor Review (June 2022)
10. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Chart 2. Incidence (in percent) of NCAs in the NLSY97 by hourly wage decile (data table) (June 2022)
11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Chart 3. Incidence (in percent) of NCAs in the NLSY 97 by occupation (data table) (June 2022)
12. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Chart 4. Incidence (in percent) of NCAs in the NLSY97 by industry (data table) (June 2022)
13. U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Economic Policy, Non-compete Contracts: Economic Effects and Policy Implications (March 2016)
14. U.S. Government Accountability Office, Noncompete Agreements: Use is Widespread to Protect Business' Stated Interests, Restricts Job Mobility, and May Affect Wages (GAO-23-103785) (May 11, 2023 (publicly released May 16, 2023))