Burnout rates and costs by industry: 2026 data for eight sectors
Burnout doesn't affect industries equally. The rates below combine Eagle Hill 2025 (cross-sector), Gallup 2024 workforce panels, ANA & AMA clinician surveys, and sector-specific 2025-2026 reporting. Cost estimates assume 100 employees at $80K average fully-loaded salary; scale up using the calculator.
01 / Sector ledger
USD per 100 employees, $80K avg salary
| Industry | Burnout rate | Est. cost / 100 employees | Leading drivers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal servicesHighest | 44% | $1.82M | Billable-hour pressure / Adversarial work / Up-or-out partnership tracks |
| HealthcareMost acute | 42% | $1.73M | Staffing shortages / Emotional labour / Long rotating shifts |
| TechnologyKnowledge-work | 40% | $1.65M | Always-on culture / Remote boundary erosion / Layoff cycles |
| Finance & banking | 38% | $1.57M | Bonus-season cycles / Regulatory pressure / High-stakes decisions |
| Education | 36% | $1.49M | Out-of-hours workload / Resource constraints / Student welfare load |
| Retail & hospitality | 32% | $1.32M | Shift volatility / Customer-facing stress / Wage-to-cost-of-living gap |
| Manufacturing | 30% | $1.24M | Shift work fatigue / Physical demands / Safety risk under fatigue |
| Government & public sector | 30% | $1.24M | Resource constraints / Bureaucratic friction / Public scrutiny |
02 / Sector deep dive
Notes & sources
Legal services
44%~$1.82M / 100 employees
- Billable-hour pressure
- Adversarial work
- Up-or-out partnership tracks
Highest burnout of any white-collar sector. ABA 2024 wellness survey shows 1 in 4 lawyers contemplating leaving the profession.
Healthcare
42%~$1.73M / 100 employees
- Staffing shortages
- Emotional labour
- Long rotating shifts
Nurse burnout drives an estimated $9B/year in turnover for US hospitals. ANA projects a 10% RN shortage by 2027.
Technology
40%~$1.65M / 100 employees
- Always-on culture
- Remote boundary erosion
- Layoff cycles
82% of tech workers report being close to burnout in 2025 surveys. Engineering teams the worst affected on most pulse data.
Finance & banking
38%~$1.57M / 100 employees
- Bonus-season cycles
- Regulatory pressure
- High-stakes decisions
Investment banking and trading roles spike well above sector average during deal cycles. Audit burnout peaks Q1.
Education
36%~$1.49M / 100 employees
- Out-of-hours workload
- Resource constraints
- Student welfare load
Post-pandemic worsening trend. RAND Education 2024 reports US teachers twice as likely to be burned out as the general workforce.
Retail & hospitality
32%~$1.32M / 100 employees
- Shift volatility
- Customer-facing stress
- Wage-to-cost-of-living gap
Sharpest burnout increases post-pandemic among frontline workers. Holiday seasons significantly amplify exposure.
Manufacturing
30%~$1.24M / 100 employees
- Shift work fatigue
- Physical demands
- Safety risk under fatigue
Burnout correlates directly with safety incidents in manufacturing settings. Compounds workers comp and downtime exposure.
Government & public sector
30%~$1.24M / 100 employees
- Resource constraints
- Bureaucratic friction
- Public scrutiny
Lower headline rate than private sector, but presenteeism share runs high due to civil service tenure dynamics.
03 / Sector calculator
Estimate exposure for your sector
Pre-loaded with technology defaults. Switch the industry dropdown to apply the baseline rate for legal, healthcare, finance, or any other sector.
Total annual exposure
$6,119,327
Sum of presenteeism, absenteeism, turnover and healthcare uplift
Per affected employee
$61,193
AJPM 2025 reference range: $4K hourly to $20.7K executive
02 / Hidden cost split (AJPM 2025)
91%comes from presenteeism
Showing up under-performing, not calling in sick. The American Journal of Preventive Medicine (Feb 2025) found 89% of burnout cost is invisible on attendance reports. Most HR dashboards miss it.
91%
9%
03 / Cost components
USD / year
Turnover & replacement
$4,631,250
76% of total
Gallup: 2.6x leave probability, 125% replacement cost
Productivity reduction
$1,235,000
20% of total
Gallup: 13% effective output deficit
Healthcare uplift
$161,000
3% of total
WHO: 23% higher utilisation
Absenteeism
$92,077
2% of total
Gallup: 63% more sick days
04 / Maslach Burnout Inventory dimensions
Heuristic, 0-100
Emotional and physical depletion. The leading indicator.
Depersonalisation and disengagement. Rises with chronic exposure.
Reduced sense of accomplishment. The most expensive dimension to recover.
Modelled from observed burnout rate using the Maslach & Leiter three-dimension framework. For a clinical assessment, use the licensed MBI instrument with your EAP.
05 / Next step
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04 / Direction of travel
Which sectors are getting worse
Pulse-rate change since 2020 across the sectors with reliable longitudinal data. Education and healthcare have not recovered; legal continues to deteriorate; tech has stabilised after the 2022-2023 layoff cycle.
- Education+9 ppsince 2020Resource constraints and student welfare load.
- Healthcare+7 ppsince 2020Staffing crisis persists; nursing acute.
- Legal+5 ppsince 2020Billable expectations rising in BigLaw.
- Government+3 ppsince 2020Hiring freezes plus rising case loads.
- Technology+1 ppsince 2020Stabilised after 2022-2023 layoff cycle.
- Manufacturing-1 ppsince 2020Modest improvement on safety culture.
pp = percentage points. Sources: Eagle Hill 2025, Gallup 2024 longitudinal panels, ANA 2024.
05 / FAQ
Sector questions
Which industry has the highest burnout rate?
Which industry has the highest burnout rate?
Among white-collar sectors, legal services consistently report the highest burnout rates, around 44%, driven by billable-hour pressure and adversarial work. Healthcare follows closely, at 42-62% in clinical roles, with nurse and physician burnout the most acute. Technology sits at 38-40%, with always-on culture and remote-work boundary erosion as the leading drivers.
How much does nurse burnout cost the US health system?
How much does nurse burnout cost the US health system?
Industry estimates put nurse burnout-driven turnover at roughly $9 billion per year for US hospitals, before accounting for productivity, patient safety, and locum coverage costs. The American Nurses Association projects a 10% RN shortage by 2027 if current attrition trends continue.
Why is teacher burnout so high?
Why is teacher burnout so high?
Education burnout sits at around 36% in 2026 and has worsened since 2020. The drivers are workload that extends well beyond classroom hours, administrative burden, resource constraints, and the emotional demands of supporting vulnerable students.
Is finance a high-burnout industry?
Is finance a high-burnout industry?
Yes. Banking and finance report burnout at around 38%, with investment banking, trading, and audit roles substantially higher during peak cycles. Bonus season correlates strongly with burnout severity in surveys.