50+ Employee Turnover Statistics and Benchmarks for 2026

Employee turnover benchmarks are easy to misuse. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes monthly levels and rates for quits and total separations, plus annual averages. An annual average rate in the JOLTS tables is not the percentage of a workforce that left during the entire year. It is based on the sum of 12 monthly separations divided by the sum of 12 monthly employment levels.

This page gives current official benchmarks, industry comparisons and research on why people leave. Use the closest industry and a consistently defined internal rate rather than a generic “good turnover rate.”

Current U.S. labor-turnover snapshot

The June 2026 Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey reported:

1. 7.4 million job openings, representing a 4.4% job-openings rate. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
2. 5.3 million hires, a 3.4% hires rate. (BLS)
3. 5.4 million total separations, a 3.4% total-separations rate. (BLS)
4. 3.2 million quits, a 2.0% quits rate. (BLS)
5. 1.8 million layoffs and discharges, a 1.1% rate. (BLS)
6. 353,000 other separations, a category that includes retirement, death, disability and transfers to other locations. (BLS)
7. BLS treats quits as generally initiated by employees. (BLS definitions)
8. BLS treats layoffs and discharges as initiated by employers. (BLS definitions)

2025 annual-average quit rates by industry

The following BLS rates are annual averages of monthly quit rates. They are useful for comparing sectors, but they are not annualized percentages of unique workers who quit.

1. Total nonfarm quit rate: 2.0%. (BLS Table 22)
2. Total private-sector quit rate: 2.2%. (BLS)
3. Mining and logging: 2.1%. (BLS)
4. Construction: 1.8%. (BLS)
5. Manufacturing: 1.4%. (BLS)
6. Durable-goods manufacturing: 1.3%. (BLS)
7. Nondurable-goods manufacturing: 1.6%. (BLS)
8. Trade, transportation and utilities: 2.2%. (BLS)
9. Wholesale trade: 1.4%. (BLS)
10. Retail trade: 2.6%. (BLS)
11. Transportation, warehousing and utilities: 2.2%. (BLS)
12. Information: 1.3%. (BLS)
13. Financial activities: 1.4%. (BLS)
14. Finance and insurance: 1.3%. (BLS)
15. Real estate, rental and leasing: 1.6%. (BLS)
16. Professional and business services: 2.3%. (BLS)
17. Private education and health services: 1.9%. (BLS)
18. Private educational services: 1.4%. (BLS)
19. Healthcare and social assistance: 2.0%. (BLS)
20. Leisure and hospitality: 3.9%. (BLS)
21. Arts, entertainment and recreation: 2.2%. (BLS)
22. Accommodation and food services: 4.2%, the highest rate among the broad industries in this list. (BLS)
23. Other services: 2.2%. (BLS)
24. Government: 0.8%. (BLS)
25. Federal government: 0.8%. (BLS)
26. State and local government: 0.8%. (BLS)
27. State and local government education: 0.8%. (BLS)
28. State and local government excluding education: 0.8%. (BLS)

Regional and historical quit benchmarks

1. Northeast 2025 annual-average quit rate: 1.6%. (BLS Table 22)
2. South: 2.2%. (BLS)
3. Midwest: 2.2%. (BLS)
4. West: 1.9%. (BLS)
5. The total annual-average quit rate was 2.7% in 2021. (BLS)
6. It rose to 2.8% in 2022. (BLS)
7. It fell to 2.4% in 2023. (BLS)
8. It fell again to 2.1% in 2024. (BLS)
9. The 2025 rate was 2.0%, 0.8 points below the 2022 peak. (BLS)

How much turnover may be preventable?

Gallup surveyed 717 U.S. employees who had voluntarily left an employer. These findings describe leavers' retrospective reports, not all employees.

1. 42% of voluntary leavers said their departure could have been prevented. (Gallup)
2. 51% of U.S. employees were watching for or actively seeking another job in Gallup's broader workforce data. (Gallup)
3. 77% of leavers departed within three months of beginning a search or had not actively searched before leaving. (Gallup)
4. 36% did not talk to anyone before deciding to resign. (Gallup)
5. Among those who did discuss leaving, 44% did not talk to their direct manager. (Gallup)
6. 45% said no manager or leader had proactively discussed their satisfaction, performance or future during the three months before departure. (Gallup)
7. Among leavers who had a proactive conversation, 29% discussed their future career. (Gallup)
8. 28% discussed job satisfaction. (Gallup)
9. 18% discussed what it took to be effective in the role. (Gallup)
10. Only 17% had a conversation specifically about what might encourage them to stay. (Gallup)

What leavers say might have changed the outcome

1. 30% of preventable actions cited by leavers involved compensation or benefits. (Gallup)
2. 21% involved more positive interactions with a manager. (Gallup)
3. 13% involved organizational issues. (Gallup)
4. 11% involved career advancement opportunities. (Gallup)
5. 9% involved staffing or workload. (Gallup)
6. 8% involved reducing negative manager interactions. (Gallup)
7. Taken together, 70% of the preventable actions related to day-to-day management factors other than pay and benefits. (Gallup)
8. Changes in manager interactions accounted for nearly 3 in 10 preventable actions: 21% seeking more positive contact and 8% seeking fewer negative interactions. (Gallup)
9. Employees who have a meaningful weekly manager conversation are four times as likely to be highly engaged. (Gallup)
10. Gallup says 15 to 30 minutes can be enough for that weekly conversation. (Gallup)

Cost, recognition and engagement findings

1. Gallup estimates replacement costs at approximately 200% of salary for leaders and managers. (Gallup)
2. Its estimate is 80% of salary for technical and professional roles. (Gallup)
3. Its estimate is 40% of salary for frontline employees. (Gallup)
4. In a 2022–2024 longitudinal analysis, well-recognized employees were 45% less likely to turn over after two years. (Gallup)
5. Highly engaged business units had 18% lower turnover in organizations with high annualized turnover above 40%. (Gallup)
6. Highly engaged units had 43% lower turnover in organizations with annualized turnover of 40% or less. (Gallup)
7. Work Institute says its retention research draws on more than 120,000 exit interviews. (Work Institute)
8. Its 2026 report says 75% of 2025 departures in its dataset were preventable. This is a provider's exit-interview benchmark and uses a different method from Gallup's 42% leaver estimate. (Work Institute)
9. Work Institute reports lack of career development has been the leading reason for leaving for 13 consecutive years in its analysis. (Work Institute)

How to calculate employee turnover correctly

A common internal formula is:

Turnover rate = separations during the period ÷ average headcount during the period × 100

State which separations are included. Overall turnover, voluntary turnover, regrettable turnover, first-year turnover and internal mobility answer different questions. Do not compare a 12-month internal rate to the BLS annual-average monthly rate without converting them to a common basis.

For a useful retention dashboard, segment by role, manager, tenure, location and critical skill. Pair the rate with reasons from structured exit interviews and leading indicators such as career conversations, workload, recognition and internal applications. Small groups should be suppressed to protect privacy.

EvalFlow connects goals, feedback and structured conversations in one performance-management platform. Continue with our manager effectiveness statistics, employee recognition statistics, one-on-one meeting statistics and employee development statistics.

Research note

BLS figures are official U.S. estimates and may be revised. Industry classification and seasonal adjustment matter. Gallup and Work Institute use different samples and definitions of preventability, so their 42% and 75% findings should not be averaged. Associations between engagement, recognition and turnover do not mean a single program will reproduce the reported effect in every organization.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good employee turnover rate?

There is no universal good rate. Compare your voluntary and total turnover with the closest industry, region, role and labor-market period. Then distinguish healthy movement from loss of high-performing or hard-to-replace employees.

Is the BLS annual quits rate the same as annual turnover?

No. BLS calculates the annual average quits rate using the sum of 12 monthly quits divided by the sum of 12 monthly employment levels. It is an average monthly rate across the year, not the percentage of unique employees who quit during 12 months.

What is regrettable turnover?

It is employer-defined turnover the organization would have preferred to prevent, often involving strong performers, critical skills or replacement difficulty. Publish a consistent rule so managers cannot relabel every departure after the fact.

How much does employee turnover cost?

Cost varies by role. Include recruiting, vacancy time, onboarding, lost productivity, manager time, overtime and knowledge loss. Gallup's role-level estimates range from 40% of salary for frontline roles to 200% for leaders and managers.

What is the fastest way to reduce preventable turnover?

Do not wait for an exit interview. Use short, regular conversations about satisfaction, workload, career direction and what would make the employee more likely to stay. Aggregate the themes and fix systemic issues rather than treating every exit as an individual surprise.