Americans are spending more of the workday sitting — the jobs driving the trend often come with more money

Standing desks may have become a workplace staple, but Americans are spending more time seated at work than at any point in nearly a decade, according to new federal labor data — and that might be a good thing for their personal finances.

Indeed, while it may not please many health experts, the share of the working day that the average US worker spends standing has been shrinking, as more of us take up jobs where we often take a load off to lock in and get paid.

Among the most sedentary professionals are software developers, who spent 97% of the workday sitting last year. Investment analysts (96.4%), accountants (96.2%), and lawyers (86.4%) also spent most of their day in a chair. At the other end of the spectrum were food prep and service workers, including fast-food cooks, bakers, and bartenders, who spent over 98% of their shifts on their feet. Construction roles like carpenters and electricians weren’t far behind.

The chair premium

Interestingly, how much time you spend seated often lines up with how much you earn, the latest wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows.

Workers in management spent nearly three-quarters of the workday seated, with the highest-grossing occupation earning $171,200 on average in 2024. Other desk-bound roles in legal, computer, and financial fields also pulled in six-figure salaries. Meanwhile, workers in food service, personal care, transportation, and maintenance — jobs that require standing most of the day — typically earned around $41,000 or less per year.

Some standouts

The pattern isn’t universal, though. Office and administrative support workers, along with bus drivers and chauffeurs, naturally spent a majority of their workday seated but still earned below the national average of $49,500. Pharmacists, by contrast, earned ~$137,000 a year while spending just 28% of their day sitting.