The last thing many people want to do is sit at their desk all day. It can be boring and lonely and just bad for your health. But for those with particularly grueling jobs, the opportunity to take a seat would be most welcome.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the average American worker spent 39% of the workday sitting and 61% standing in 2016. Yet very few workers actually spend three fifths of their time standing. As part of the Occupational Requirement Survey, BLS collects estimates of the sitting and standing percentages for more than one hundred different occupations. The data shows that for about half of all jobs, you’ll be doing one or the other more than 80% of the time.
The most standing-heavy jobs are in food service, cleaning and retail. Cooks (2.6% sitting) and housekeeping cleaners (3.5%) are on their feet just about all day. Bookkeeping and finance jobs are at the other end of the spectrum. Accountants (90.1% sitting) and insurance adjusters (86.2%) are prime targets for the standing desk industry.
The following table displays estimates of the average time spent sitting during the workday for 135 occupations. The estimates are based on samples, but are likely accurate to within 1-4%. This is the first year that the US government has collected this data.
| Rank | Occupation | % of workday sitting |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sales floor stock clerks | 1.2% |
| 2 | Food prep. and serving workers | 1.7% |
| 3 | Cooks, restaurant | 2.6% |
| 4 | Cooks, fast food | 2.7% |
| 5 | Counter attendants | 2.9% |
| 6 | Dishwashers | 2.9% |
| 7 | Meat and fish cutters | 3.0% |
| 8 | Packers and packagers, hand | 3.1% |
| 9 | Food preparation workers | 3.2% |
| 10 | Maids and housekeeping cleaners | 3.5% |
| 11 | Waiters and waitresses | 3.7% |
| 12 | Dining room attendants and barhands | 3.7% |
| 13 | Cooks, short order | 4.0% |
| 14 | Restaurant hosts | 4.2% |
| 15 | Janitors and cleaners | 4.5% |
| 16 | Cashiers | 5.0% |
| 17 | Carpenters | 5.4% |
| 18 | Cooks, institution and cafeteria | 6.0% |
| 19 | Laundry and dry | 6.3% |
| 20 | Bakers | 6.5% |
| 21 | Bartenders | 6.8% |
| 22 | Construction carpenters | 7.4% |
| 23 | Stock clerks and order fillers | 7.9% |
| 24 | Helpers | 8.7% |
| 25 | Team assemblers | 9.0% |
| 26 | Food servers, nonrestaurant | 9.5% |
| 27 | Construction laborers | 9.8% |
| 28 | Welders, cutters, and welder fitters | 10.0% |
| 29 | Building and grounds maintenance workers | 10.4% |
| 30 | Pharmacy technicians | 10.7% |
| 31 | Retail salespersons | 10.8% |
| 32 | Packaging and filling machine operators | 11.4% |
| 33 | Laborers and freight and material movers | 11.5% |
| 34 | Electricians | 11.8% |
| 35 | Cutting, punching, and press machine setters | 14.0% |
| 36 | Automotive service technicians and mechanics | 14.9% |
| 37 | Maintenance and repair workers, general | 16.0% |
| 38 | Nursing assistants | 16.2% |
| 39 | Production workers | 16.8% |
| 40 | Construction and extraction workers | 16.9% |
| 41 | Industrial machinery mechanics | 18.0% |
| 42 | Multiple machine tool setters | 18.1% |
| 43 | Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks | 18.6% |
| 44 | Maintenance workers, machinery | 20.5% |
| 45 | Installation and repair workers | 21.1% |
| 46 | Stock clerks | 21.6% |
| 47 | Pharmacists | 21.9% |
| 48 | Secondary school teachers | 23.7% |
| 49 | Home health aides | 23.8% |
| 50 | Bus and truck mechanics | 24.0% |
| 51 | Landscaping and groundskeeping workers | 25.4% |
| 52 | Elementary school teachers | 25.5% |
| 53 | Sales and related workers | 26.0% |
| 54 | Physical therapists | 26.4% |
| 55 | Healthcare support workers | 26.6% |
| 56 | Personal care and service workers | 27.0% |
| 57 | Middle school teachers | 27.8% |
| 58 | Respiratory therapists | 27.8% |
| 59 | Recreation workers | 28.0% |
| 60 | Practical and vocational nurses | 28.1% |
| 61 | First-line supervisors | 30.2% |
| 62 | Childcare workers | 32.0% |
| 63 | Parts salespersons | 32.4% |
| 64 | Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks | 34.2% |
| 65 | Education, training, and library workers | 34.7% |
| 66 | Personal care aides | 35.2% |
| 67 | Healthcare practitioners | 35.3% |
| 68 | Inspectors, testers, and sorters | 35.5% |
| 69 | Teacher assistants | 36.1% |
| 70 | Kindergarten teachers | 37.1% |
| 71 | Industrial truck and tractor operators | 38.8% |
| 72 | Transportation and material moving workers | 40.1% |
| 73 | Medical and clinical laboratory technicians | 43.7% |
| 74 | Light truck or delivery services drivers | 47.7% |
| 75 | Dental assistants | 48.6% |
| 76 | Industrial production managers | 49.1% |
| 77 | Driver/sales workers | 49.2% |
| 78 | English language and literature teachers | 51.8% |
| 79 | Social and community service managers | 51.9% |
| 80 | Emergency medical technicians and paramedics | 52.5% |
| 81 | Construction managers | 53.1% |
| 82 | Librarians | 53.3% |
| 83 | Sales reps. | 58.0% |
| 84 | Arts, media and entertainment workers | 59.5% |
| 85 | Social and human service assistants | 59.9% |
| 86 | Community and social service workers | 64.8% |
| 87 | Medical and health services managers | 65.2% |
| 88 | Administrative support workers | 65.3% |
| 89 | Educational counselors | 65.4% |
| 90 | General and operations managers | 66.0% |
| 91 | Receptionists and information clerks | 67.4% |
| 92 | Management workers | 67.5% |
| 93 | File clerks | 68.8% |
| 94 | Architecture and engineering workers | 69.2% |
| 95 | Production, planning, and expediting clerks | 69.2% |
| 96 | Architectural and engineering managers | 72.3% |
| 97 | Administrative services managers | 72.5% |
| 98 | Sales managers | 72.7% |
| 99 | Health information technicians | 72.9% |
| 100 | Operating engineers | 72.9% |
| 101 | Mechanical engineers | 73.7% |
| 102 | Heavy and tractor | 73.8% |
| 103 | Human resources managers | 75.4% |
| 104 | Lawyers | 75.9% |
| 105 | Order clerks | 75.9% |
| 106 | Computer systems administrators | 76.8% |
| 107 | Legal workers | 77.5% |
| 108 | Sales representatives of scientific products | 78.6% |
| 109 | Office clerks, general | 78.6% |
| 110 | Computer and information systems managers | 79.3% |
| 111 | Human resources specialists | 79.5% |
| 112 | Loan officers | 79.8% |
| 113 | Financial operations workers | 79.8% |
| 114 | Executive secretaries | 80.1% |
| 115 | Computer user support specialists | 80.3% |
| 116 | Insurance sales agents | 80.3% |
| 117 | Patient representatives | 80.3% |
| 118 | Accountants | 80.7% |
| 119 | Market research analysts | 81.1% |
| 120 | Customer service representatives | 82.0% |
| 121 | Bus drivers, school or special client | 82.4% |
| 122 | Computer and mathematical workers | 83.3% |
| 123 | Secretaries and administrative assistants | 83.4% |
| 124 | Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks | 83.7% |
| 125 | Data entry keyers | 84.7% |
| 126 | Insurance claims and policy processing clerks | 86.1% |
| 127 | Insurance adjusters | 86.2% |
| 128 | Payroll and timekeeping clerks | 86.8% |
| 129 | Insurance claims clerks | 87.5% |
| 130 | Treasurers and controllers | 88.0% |
| 131 | Billing, cost, and rate clerks | 89.4% |
| 132 | Software developers, applications | 90.0% |
| 133 | Dispatchers | 90.0% |
| 134 | Accountants and auditors | 90.1% |
| 135 | Bill and account collectors | 91.5% |