Disability insurance at work: who is offered a plan
Choose the group that matches your employer and enter your salary. The share of workers offered each plan in March 2026 and what the median private plan would pay you appear at once.
Example, not your result yet· change a figure to see yours
Workers offered long-term disability: private industry
37%
short-term disability 44% · long-term care 15%
| All civilian workers, long-term disability | 38% |
| Median private plan, a week (short term) | $692 |
| Median private plan, a month (long term) | $3,000 |
Median private plan: 60% of pay up to the median maximum, for workers whose plan pays a fixed share. Access means the employer offers the plan, paid or not.
| Group | Short-term | Long-term | Long-term care |
|---|---|---|---|
| All civilian workers | 42% | 38% | 17% |
| Private industry | 44% | 37% | 15% |
| State and local government | 26% | 41% | 29% |
Compiled by Radif Partners · How the figures are built · IRS rules and BLS plan data read November 7, 2026
Whether a job comes with disability insurance depends mostly on the employer's industry, size and pay level. In March 2026, 42% of civilian workers had access to short-term disability and 38% to long-term disability through work, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics National Compensation Survey; 17% were offered long-term care insurance. Long-term coverage ranges from 90% in banking and credit to 7% in accommodation and food services. It rises with company size, from 22% of workers at establishments with fewer than 50 workers to 66% at 500 or more, and with pay, from 10% of the lowest-paid quarter of private workers to 67% of the highest-paid. State and local governments offer long-term disability to 41% of their workers but short-term disability to only 26%. Access means the plan is offered; some workers decline it or pay for it.
Where the figures come from
The National Compensation Survey of the Bureau of Labor Statistics samples establishments across the private sector and state and local government and records the benefits they offer. Its March 2026 edition was published on September 25, 2026 (Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2026). The series behind this page were read through the bureau's public data interface on November 7, 2026: access to short-term disability, long-term disability and long-term care insurance for 37 groups of workers. Industries, sizes, regions, union status, hours and wage groups refer to private industry. Long-term care is published for fewer groups; where the bureau gives no figure, the table says so rather than estimate one.
Industry: from information to restaurants
Long-term disability coverage tracks the kind of work and the pay that comes with it. Information, banking and insurance lead; retail, construction, other services and food service trail, with a gap of 83 percentage points from top to bottom. The full ranking for private industry:
| Industry | Short-term | Long-term |
|---|---|---|
| Banking and credit | 75% | 90% |
| Information | 82% | 81% |
| Insurance carriers | 83% | 69% |
| Hospitals | 62% | 67% |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | 55% | 57% |
| Educational services | 39% | 53% |
| Manufacturing | 59% | 49% |
| Health care and social assistance | 43% | 44% |
| Real estate and rental | 38% | 39% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 50% | 35% |
| Administrative and support services | 34% | 25% |
| Construction | 32% | 21% |
| Other services | 24% | 19% |
| Retail trade | 36% | 15% |
| Accommodation and food services | 22% | 7% |
Size and pay
Company size is the strongest single factor. Access to long-term disability goes from 22% at establishments with fewer than 50 workers to 30% at 50 to 99, 42% at 100 to 499 and 66% at 500 or more. Pay works the same way: the highest-paid quarter of private workers has access at 67%, the lowest-paid quarter at 10%. Part-time work cuts access the most, to 5% for long-term disability. The people least likely to have a group plan are also those with the least savings to bridge a long absence, which the elimination period calculator makes concrete.
Your employer group, and what its median plan pays
Example, not your result yet· change a figure to see yours
Workers offered long-term disability: fewer than 50 workers
22%
| All civilian workers, long-term disability | 38% |
| Median private plan, a week (short term) | $692 |
| Median private plan, a month (long term) | $3,000 |
Region
Regional differences in long-term coverage are modest, from 30% to 47%. Short-term disability is the exception, because of state mandates: the Middle Atlantic region reaches 81%.
| Region | Short-term | Long-term |
|---|---|---|
| New England | 46% | 47% |
| Middle Atlantic | 81% | 41% |
| South Atlantic | 39% | 34% |
| East South Central | 37% | 30% |
| West South Central | 37% | 34% |
| East North Central | 42% | 39% |
| West North Central | 41% | 42% |
| Mountain | 35% | 30% |
| Pacific | 34% | 39% |
What the median plan pays
Having a plan is half the answer; its formula is the other half. The calculator applies the median private plan of the same survey, 60% of earnings with a median monthly maximum of $10,000 for long-term disability and $1,030 a week for short-term, to the salary you enter. Your own plan may differ: the long-term and short-term calculators take its exact figures, and the needs calculator shows what to add if your employer offers nothing.
Long-term care at work
Employer long-term care insurance is rarer and published for fewer groups. In March 2026, 17% of civilian workers had access, 15% in private industry and 29% in state and local government; 33% at establishments of 500 workers or more, 27% among the best-paid quarter of private workers and 6% among the lowest-paid. When you pay the premium yourself, it can count toward the medical expense deduction within the age limits of the year (deduction calculator).
Limits of the survey
The survey counts workers by the establishment they work for, not by occupation within it, and reports access, not enrollment. It covers the civilian economy except the federal government, farms and households. Its estimates carry sampling error that the bureau publishes separately; small groups move more from one year to the next.