Study Finds Remote Workers Spend More Time Alone and Report Higher Mental Distress, Yet Many Accept Pay Cuts to Keep the Arrangement

A study published June 8, 2026, in the journal Science found that people in remote jobs experienced more depression, anxiety, mental health visits and time alone than workers in jobs that cannot be done remotely. Natalia Emanuel, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the study's main author, said workers in remotable jobs saw a 58% rise in hours spent alone compared with people in non-remotable jobs.

They also recorded a 72% increase in the chance of spending an entire day with no human contact.

Remote workers reported a decrease in time spent with friends after the workday relative to people in non-remotable occupations. They also showed a rise in symptoms of emotional distress on a standardized questionnaire, made more visits to mental health care providers and used more prescription psychiatric medications. All measured impacts were larger for remote workers who live alone.

Those workers recorded an 83% increase in the chance of spending their days with no social contact. The increase in mental distress was almost twice as large for people living alone as for those living with family. The study drew on data from five large national surveys of American workers.

It compared employees in remotable jobs such as software engineering and marketing with employees in non-remotable jobs such as surgery and mechanical engineering. Nicholas Epley, a professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business who was not involved in the study, said the findings indicate that people might be choosing poorly when it comes to their wellbeing.

He noted that other studies have found workers are willing to give up 4 to 10% of their earnings to work remotely.