Between 1960 and 1980, the number of Americans who worked at home steadily declined, largely reflecting a drop in the number of family farmers who elected to give up farming. But the most recent decennial census in 1990 shows a dramatic increase in the number of people who worked at home, up 56 percent from 1980, to 3.4 million people.

This Census Brief analyzes trends in work-at-home patterns: who these workers are, what kind of work they do and how often they do it. Given the advancements in personal computers and Internet technology since these data were collected in the 1990 census, we expect even more significant increases in the proportion working at home by Census 2000.