By Jessica Mason and Katherine Gallagher Robbins
This fact sheet updates the report State Paid Leave Programs Cover Nearly One-Third of Workers in the United States, in light of Virginia becoming the 15th state to enact paid family and medical leave.
When women and their families are facing a serious medical crisis or preparing to welcome a new child, the last thing they should be worried about is losing a paycheck. While the United States still lacks a national guarantee of paid family and medical leave, public demand and decades of hard work by advocates across the country have now won programs in 15 states.
Thanks to these state-level paid leave programs, nearly 50 million private-sector workers nationwide have or will soon have access to paid time away from their jobs for major health and caregiving needs. That means more than one-third of private sector workers across the United States (34 percent) will have paid family and medical leave through a state program when the need arises, marking a major milestone for the entire country.
The number of workers covered in each state (meaning private-sector workers in the labor force who meet eligibility rules for their state’s program) ranges from nearly 280,000 in the District of Columbia to close to 17 million in California – the most populous state with a paid leave program. Across all 15 states, the rate of access ranges from 76 percent in Delaware to 97 percent in California and in Oregon, averaging 93 percent for the total labor force in paid leave states.
As we examined in the report State Paid Leave Programs Cover Nearly One-Third of Workers in the United States, state paid leave access is uneven, particularly across different groups of workers by race and ethnicity. Nationwide, larger shares of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander workers and Latino workers are covered by state paid leave programs than Black and American Indian/Alaska Native workers – gaps that are driven primarily by where different communities tend to live and work.
However, some gaps are narrowing as paid leave expands further across the United States. In 2026, Virginia became the 15th state, and the first state in the South, to pass a paid family and medical leave program. The expansion of paid leave to Virginia increased access across the board and also helped narrow the gap for Black workers.
Within each state with a paid leave program, the vast majority of people in the labor force are eligible. That’s also true across gender, race/ethnicity, disability or veteran status, or whether a worker has children in the home. However, there are some inequities in access to paid leave that vary by state, illustrating the impact of differences in eligibility rules. For example, having a higher minimum earnings requirement or excluding employees of smaller employers contributes to the lower eligibility rates in some states.
- Women are slightly less likely to be eligible for paid leave than men in all states but the District of Columbia.
- Disabled workers are less likely to be eligible than nondisabled workers in every state.
- Compared to white workers, Black workers are somewhat less likely to be eligible in all states, and Latino workers less likely in most states.
- In all states, parents of minor children are more likely to be eligible for paid leave than people without children under 18.
- In all states but California and Delaware, veterans are more likely to be eligible than non-veterans.
- In all states but Rhode Island, the majority of low-wage workers (paid $15 per hour or less) are eligible. Oregon and California are especially inclusive for low-wage workers.
Three-quarters of Americans say it’s important that Congress create a national paid leave program which covers medical leave, parental leave and family caregiving responsibilities, and ensures workers are paid when they are on leave. But in the meantime, states will continue to lead the way on paid leave progress, offering clear evidence that comprehensive paid leave supports businesses, workers and their loved ones.
See appendix tables for full data by state and demographic category.
The authors would like to thank Tori Coan, Michelle Feit, Jocelyn Frye, Sharita Gruberg, Mettabel Law, Jesse Matton, Udochi Onwubiko, Maria Ortiz Pineda, Brittany Williams and Gail Zuagar for their contributions to this series.
Methods note: Figures are authors’ analysis of American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year data 2020-2024 via IPUMS. Eligible workforce figures are an estimate of workers who meet eligibility thresholds, not of the number of workers who experience a qualifying health or caregiving condition in a given year, and are for the private-sector workforce. Maryland’s and Virginia’s paid leave benefits will commence in 2028. For more details on methodology, see State Paid Leave Programs Cover Nearly One-Third of Workers in the United States.
