How many employees does AT&T have? Headcount by year from its filings

This page is for sellers sizing AT&T as an account, analysts comparing carriers, and anyone who needs an AT&T headcount they can cite. Workforce-analytics sites estimate it from public profiles and disagree. Every figure here comes from AT&T's annual 10-K reports or the operating data it files with the SEC each quarter, with the date it applies to.

AT&T employees by year

AT&T states its headcount in the Human Capital section of each 10-K. Until the 2023 report it gave the count as of January 31 of the following year; since the 2024 report it has used December 31.

The filings say "approximately"; the changes are our arithmetic. The 2020 10-K also printed year-end counts in its five-year summary: 268,220 at the end of 2018, 247,800 at the end of 2019 and 230,760 at the end of 2020. Because of the switch from January to December, the 2024 change covers 11 months, not 12.

AT&T headcount by quarter

AT&T also reports "Total Employees" every quarter, in the Consolidated Supplementary Data table of the selected financial statements and operating data it files with the SEC as an exhibit to its earnings Form 8-K. The 2026 releases show:

The third quarter of 2026 brought the largest quarterly drop in these figures: 3,720 fewer employees than at June 30 (2.8%). Since the end of 2025 headcount is down 5,880, even though AT&T bought Lumen's Mass Markets fiber business on February 2, 2026.

What the number includes

• Everyone AT&T Inc. and its subsidiaries employ. The 10-K says "we employed approximately 133,030 persons" and doesn't separate full-time from part-time staff or say whether temporary workers count. It gives no contractor figure, so don't add or subtract one.
• One total for all segments. AT&T doesn't split headcount by segment or country, so the filings don't say how many of these people work in Mexico or in each US business unit. Any split you see elsewhere is an estimate.
• A heavily unionized workforce. "Approximately 43% of our employees are represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) or other unions," the 2025 10-K says. The share was 37% to 40% in the 2018 to 2021 reports.
• Not retirees, and not former businesses. The 10-K separately lists approximately 477,000 retirees and dependents eligible for retiree benefits. DirecTV, which AT&T accounted for as an equity investment after 2021 and sold in 2025, and Warner Bros. Discovery employ their own staff.

What changed and why

2019 to 2021: a smaller base after Time Warner

The 2018 10-K says AT&T completed its acquisition of Time Warner Inc. that year, and the five-year summary shows headcount at 254,000 at the end of 2017 and 268,220 at the end of 2018. Counts then fell to 246,000 and 230,000 over the next two Januaries. The filings don't tie those declines to one program.

2021 and 2022: DirecTV, Vrio and WarnerMedia leave

Headcount dropped by 69,300 in two years as AT&T reshaped itself around connectivity:

• July 31, 2021: AT&T closed its transaction with TPG to form DIRECTV Entertainment Holdings and "separated our Video business, comprised of our U.S. video operations."
• November 15, 2021: it sold Vrio, its Latin American video business.
• April 8, 2022: it "completed the separation and distribution of our WarnerMedia business," which combined with Discovery as Warner Bros. Discovery.
• June 6, 2022: it sold the marketplace part of Xandr, its advertising business, to Microsoft.

2023 to 2026: steady cuts in the core business

With the media businesses gone, the 10-Ks record severance as the main restructuring cost. The 2023 report says noncash charges "primarily relate to severance and restructuring charges," and the 2025 report says restructuring expenses "primarily relate to restructuring severance charges." The 10-K describes "transformation initiatives" designed "to reduce costs, enable legacy rationalization, streamline and modernize distribution and customer service." The third-quarter 2026 10-Q again lists "employee separation charges" among higher costs.

Two deals will move the next counts. AT&T bought Lumen's Mass Markets fiber business on February 2, 2026, and on October 13, 2026 it agreed to sell its Mexico wireless business, which is the whole Latin America segment, with closing expected in the first quarter of 2027. Neither filing gives the number of employees involved.

Revenue per employee

AT&T's 2025 total operating revenues were $125,648 million. Divided by the year-end headcount, that's $125.6 billion ÷ 133,030 = about $944,500 per employee (our calculation). The same sum for 2024 ($122,336 million ÷ 140,990) gives about $867,700: revenue grew 2.7% while headcount fell 5.6%.

Mobility, Business Wireline and Consumer Wireline made up the Communications segment in 2025. From 2026 AT&T reports three segments instead: Advanced Connectivity (5G and fiber), Legacy (copper-based voice and data) and Latin America. Because headcount isn't split by segment, revenue per employee can't be worked out for any one business. Treat the company figure as a rough comparison with other carriers such as T-Mobile, and see the largest employers in the US for the wider picture.

Selling to a company this size

General guidance on how organizations of this size buy, not a description of AT&T's internal processes.

• Start from the segment. Fiber and 5G growth (Advanced Connectivity), copper retirement (Legacy) and Mexico (being sold) have very different budgets. A pitch about network build or field productivity belongs in the first; a decommissioning or migration offer in the second.
• Respect the labor agreements. With about 43% of employees union-represented, a tool that changes how technicians or call-center staff work may touch a collective bargaining agreement. Expect labor relations and HR to review it, and plan for that time.
• Sell to the cost program. The filings say plainly that AT&T is reducing costs and retiring legacy systems. Offers that show a measurable saving or replace an old platform fit the stated priorities better than new spend.
• Name the people. Work out who signs, who uses and who can block; our guide to finding decision makers shows how.

Mapping the right team inside a carrier is slow work; Bebop researches each account and suggests who to talk to and the angle to open with, which you can check against the filings.

How to check AT&T's headcount yourself

1. Open AT&T's 10-K filings on SEC EDGAR and pick the latest one.
2. In Item 1, find the Human Capital heading. "Number of Employees" is its first line, with the as-of date.
3. For a newer figure, open the latest 8-K filed with AT&T's quarterly results, then the exhibit titled "Selected Financial Statements and Operating Data", and find Total Employees under Consolidated Supplementary Data.
4. Check the as-of date before you compare years or companies.

Next step: compare AT&T with other big employers on our list of the largest employers in the US.