30+ employee turnover rate statistics by industry, role & year (2026)

The US employee turnover rate, measured by the government as the total separations rate, was 3.4% in June 2026. Over a full year, the average voluntary turnover rate hit 13.0% in 2025. Those two numbers answer very different questions, and neither one tells you whether your own rate is good or bad until you compare it to your industry. That comparison is the whole point of this page. We pulled together more than 60 verified turnover-rate benchmarks, every one traced to a primary source and dated, so you can see the current national rate, the formula behind it, and how the rate splits by industry, role, seniority, company size, region, and year.

At WorkTime, we build non-invasive employee monitoring software used by 9,500+ organizations, and our productivity and engagement data helps managers get ahead of turnover.

What is the employee turnover rate?

The employee turnover rate is the percentage of workers who lea ve an organization over a set period, such as a month, a quarter, or a year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics calls this the "total separations rate," and it is the official measure of turnover for the US labor market. Turnover has two halves:

• Voluntary turnover covers people who choose to leave: quits, resignations, and retirements.
• Involuntary turnover covers people the company lets go: layoffs, discharges, and firings. Added together, plus a small "other" category, they make up total separations.

Turnover rate is the mirror image of the retention rate. If your annual turnover rate is 15%, your retention rate is 85%. "Attrition" is often used to mean voluntary turnover or roles left unfilled after someone leaves, though many teams use turnover and attrition interchangeably.

How to calculate employee turnover rate (formula + example)

You calculate the employee turnover rate by dividing the number of employees who left by the average number of employees, then multiplying by 100. The formula:

1. Pick a time frame (month, quarter, or year).
2. Count the employees who left during that period (separations).
3. Find your average headcount: add the starting headcount and the ending headcount, then divide by 2.
4. Divide separations by average headcount, then multiply by 100.

Worked example. Say you start the year with 50 employees and end with 100. Your average headcount is 75, because (50 + 100) ÷ 2 = 75. If 15 people left during the year, your turnover rate is 20%, because (15 ÷ 75) × 100 = 20. To measure voluntary turnover only, count just the people who chose to leave in the numerator. To annualize a monthly figure, sum 12 months of separations and divide by your average headcount for the year. Most organizations review turnover annually, but tracking it monthly catches problems earlier.

The current US employee turnover rate (2026)

The current US turnover rate is 3.4% per month, or 13.0% a year for voluntary departures. The monthly figure comes from the government's count of every separation; the annual figure comes from employer surveys of voluntary quits. Here are the current numbers, all seasonally adjusted where noted. 1. The US total separations rate was 3.4% in June 2026. That is the Bureau of Labor Statistics measure of turnover, seasonally adjusted, reported in the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. About 1 in 29 workers separated from a job that month. 2. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 5.4 million total separations were recorded in June 2026. 3. The quit rate was 2.0% in June 2026. Quits are the voluntary share of turnover, covering 3.2 million workers who chose to leave that month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 4. The layoffs and discharges rate was 1.1% in June 2026, covering 1.8 million workers, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Voluntary quits ran at nearly double the rate of involuntary cuts. 5. The hires rate was 3.4% in June 2026, matching the separations rate, as 5.3 million workers were hired. Hiring and leaving are running roughly in balance. 6. The total separations rate held between 3.2% and 3.4% every month of 2025, never moving outside that band, based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly series. Turnover has normalized after the 2021 to 2022 surge. 7. Total separations eased over the past year, down from 5.43 million in June 2025, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 8. The average US voluntary turnover rate was 13.0% in 2025. This annual figure comes from Mercer's US Turnover Survey, which excludes retirees, volunteers, and contractors. 9. Mercer's 2025 survey drew on 2,617 US organizations, making it one of the larger employer-reported turnover datasets. 10. The median annual turnover rate is 15%, but the average is 30%, according to SHRM benchmarking data collected in 2021. The gap exists because a few employers with extreme churn pull the average up, which is why the median is the better benchmark.

Employee turnover rate by industry

Industry is the single biggest predictor of turnover. Annual rates run from single digits in insurance to the high 20s in retail, so a "high" rate only means something next to your own industry's benchmark. 11. Retail and wholesale have the highest turnover rate at 26.7%, based on Mercer's 2025 US Turnover Survey. 12. Insurance and reinsurance have the lowest turnover rate at 8.2%, per Mercer. That is roughly a third of the retail rate. Healthcare is one of the best-documented sectors, and it shows how severe turnover gets in high-demand roles. The following statistics come from the NSI National Health Care Retention Report, which covers 527 hospitals and reports 2025 data. 13. Acute care hospitals had an 18.5% turnover rate in 2025. 14. The median hospital turnover rate was 19.5% in 2025, slightly above the 18.5% average. 15. Staff registered nurses left at 17.6% in 2025, a 1.2 percentage point increase over the prior year. 16. Over the five years from 2021 to 2025, the average hospital turned over 106% of its workforce, meaning the typical hospital replaced more than its entire staff across that stretch. A separate dataset, from LinkedIn's analysis of its own platform, measures turnover across industries worldwide. This is global, all-company data rather than the US employer surveys above, so the two sets are not directly comparable, but the ranking of high-churn versus low-churn industries is consistent. The all-industry rate is 10.9% globally. At the more specific sub-industry level, the same data shows where churn actually concentrates: customer-facing and shift-based roles, led by restaurants and retail. The takeaway is not the individual numbers but the spread. A raw turnover rate means little on its own. Retail's 26.7% is normal for retail; insurance's 8.2% is normal for insurance. Benchmark within your own sector, never across sectors. For related workforce trends, see our remote work statistics.

Employee turnover rate by role and seniority

Turnover falls as you move up the organization. Senior, higher-paid roles are the stickiest, and frontline roles churn the most. WorkTime gives managers team-level productivity and activity trends for frontline staff without screenshots, keystroke logging, or screen recording, which matters most in exactly the roles where intrusive monitoring backfires. 17. Significantly, 40.3% of employers reported difficulty hiring or retaining workers for specific roles, showing that the pain concentrates in hard-to-fill positions rather than across the board.

Voluntary vs. involuntary turnover rate

Most turnover is voluntary. Workers leaving by choice consistently outnumber those being laid off or fired, in both the monthly government data and the annual employer surveys. 18. The annual voluntary turnover rate has a median of 12% and an average of 23%, according to SHRM's 2021 benchmarking data. 19. The annual involuntary turnover rate has a median of 4% and an average of 11%. Involuntary turnover is roughly a third the size of voluntary. 20. The overall annual turnover rate has a median of 15% and an average of 30%, combining both types. 21. The quits rate (voluntary) was 2.0% in June 2026 versus a 1.1% layoffs rate (involuntary), per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Voluntary departures ran at nearly double the involuntary rate. 22. The average voluntary turnover rate was 13.0% in 2025, per Mercer, the current annual benchmark for quits. 23. The promotion rate has a median of 4% and an average of 7%, per SHRM, worth tracking alongside exits to gauge net internal movement.

Employee turnover rate trends: year over year

Turnover surged during the 2021 to 2022 "great resignation," then cooled steadily toward pre-pandemic norms. A few sectors ticked back up in 2025, but the broad trend is down from the peak. 24. Voluntary turnover fell from 17.3% in 2023 to 13.5% in 2024 to 13.0% in 2025, per Mercer's year-over-year survey data. The cooling is clear across all three years. 25. Hospital turnover dropped from 25.9% in 2021 to 18.5% in 2025, per NSI's five-year data. 26. Staff RN turnover fell from 27.1% in 2021 to 17.6% in 2025, though 2025 saw a slight uptick from 16.4% in 2024, per NSI. 27. The government's monthly separations rate held flat at 3.2% to 3.4% throughout 2025, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, confirming a normalized labor market rather than a new surge.

• Voluntary turnover fell in each of the last three years, from 17.3% to 13.5% to 13.0%, per Mercer. The cooling is consistent, not a one-year blip.
• Healthcare has recovered most of its ground but is no longer improving. Hospital turnover dropped 7.4 points from the 2021 peak, then ticked back up in 2025. Staff RN turnover shows the same reversal, rising from 16.4% to 17.6%.
• The government's monthly rate held flat through 2025 at 3.2% to 3.4%, confirming a normalized labor market rather than a new surge.

What is a good employee turnover rate?

A good employee turnover rate is one at or below the median for your industry. There is no single national "good" number, because the healthy range depends entirely on your sector and roles. Two rules make any benchmark meaningful. Rule 1: Compare within your industry, not across it. A 20% rate is a warning sign in insurance, where 8.2% is normal, but a win in retail, where 26.7% is the industry average. Always measure against your own sector. Rule 2: Compare to the median, not the average. SHRM's 2021 data shows a median overall turnover rate of 15% against an average of 30%. A handful of very high-churn employers drag the average up, so the median describes a typical company far better. 28. A turnover rate at or below 15% is at or under the overall median, per SHRM, making it a reasonable general benchmark for a typical white-collar employer. 29. Company size drives wide variance even inside one industry. NSI found hospital turnover ranged from 7.6% to 33.1% depending partly on facility size and location, per its 2025 report. Standardized turnover data banded purely by company size is limited, so benchmark against similar-size peers in your own sector rather than a national figure. Region matters too. Turnover varies with the local labor market and the mix of industries concentrated in an area, so a national average hides real geographic spread. The most reliable benchmark is always a same-industry, same-size, same-region comparison.

Why employees leave (and how much turnover is preventable)

Most voluntary turnover is preventable, and it usually breaks down long before the resignation. The pattern in the data is that managers miss the warning signs, not that pay is too low. All of the following come from Gallup. 30. According to Gallup, 42% of employees who voluntarily left say their manager or organization could have prevented it. Nearly half of quits were avoidable. 31. Besides, 51% of US employees are watching for or actively seeking a new job, meaning half the workforce is a potential departure. 32. Meanwhile, 77% of people who quit either left within three months of starting to look or did not actively search at all. The window to intervene is short. 33. According to the findings, 36% of voluntary leavers did not talk to anyone before deciding to resign. 34. The data further reveals that 44% of those who did discuss leaving never raised it with their direct manager. 35. Perhaps most notably, 45% of voluntary leavers had no manager or leader proactively check in on their satisfaction or future in the three months before they left. The common thread is visibility. Nearly half of turnover is preventable, yet managers routinely miss the early signals: rising disengagement, climbing idle time, and the burnout patterns that precede a resignation. You can only prevent the turnover you can see coming. This is where WorkTime earns its place, surfacing productivity and engagement signals without screenshots, keystroke logging, or screen recording, so managers can act on a distraction-level signal or early burnout pattern before it becomes an exit interview. For the fuller picture on what pushes people out, see our employee burnout statistics and workplace stress statistics.

Conclusion

The US employee turnover rate sits at 3.4% a month and 13.0% a year for voluntary departures as of mid-2026, and it has cooled steadily since the 2021 peak. But the national number is only a starting point. What matters is how your rate compares to the median for your specific industry, role mix, size, and region, and which way your trend is moving. The most important insight in the data is that nearly half of turnover is preventable, and it is preventable because the warning signs show up early. Seeing that risk before it lands is the difference between reacting to an exit interview and preventing one. That is what we built WorkTime to do.

Frequently asked questions

How do you calculate the employee turnover rate?

Divide the number of employees who left during a period by the average number of employees, then multiply by 100. Average headcount is the starting count plus the ending count, divided by 2. If 15 of an average of 75 employees leave in a year, turnover is 20%.

What is a good employee turnover rate?

A good rate is at or below the median for your industry. Overall, a rate at or under 15% is at or below the cross-industry median, per SHRM's 2021 benchmarking survey, but "good" is always industry-relative. Insurance considers 8.2% normal, while retail considers 26.7% normal. WorkTime ships 80+ reports that cover that internal view, plus the engagement and activity data that explains the movement.

What does a 20% turnover rate mean?

A 20% turnover rate means one in five employees left over the measured period, usually a year. Whether that is high depends on your industry: it is elevated for insurance but low for retail or hospitality.

Is a 25% or 30% turnover rate high?

It depends on the industry. A 25% to 30% rate is high for most white-collar sectors, where the median is around 15%, but normal for retail and food service, where rates routinely run in the 20s and higher. Compare to your own industry's median before judging it.

What is the difference between turnover and attrition?

Turnover is the broad measure of everyone who leaves, voluntary and involuntary. Attrition is often used more narrowly for voluntary departures or for roles a company chooses not to backfill. Many teams use the terms interchangeably.

Which industry has the highest turnover rate?

Among the sectors measured here, retail and wholesale lead at 26.7%, while insurance is lowest at 8.2%, based on Mercer's US survey. In healthcare, hospital staff turnover is 18.5% a year, and frontline roles in restaurants and retail run in the mid-to-high teens on LinkedIn's global data.