Interpreters and translators: employees U.S. 2022

In 2022, there were over 52,000 interpreters and translators employed in the United States. Despite increasing for most of the last years, the number of individuals employed in interpreting and translating services in the United States is currently far from the number registered in 2012.

Language services industry in the United States

The language service industry includes activities aimed at facilitating communication across linguistic and cultural barriers. Activities falling under this category are broad and include translation, interpretation, localization, transcription, and subtitling. Despite some fluctuations, the industry revenue of these services in the United States is expected to grow in the coming years. This positive trend was also confirmed by the mean hourly wage paid out to translators and interpreters in the country, which has increased steadily since 2012. In 2022, New Jersey was the state in the U.S. with the highest wages in interpreting and translating services, followed by Maryland, and the District of Columbia.

Leading language services providers

In 2022, English was by far the most spoken language worldwide, followed by Chinese and Hindi. It is therefore not surprising that nine of the ten global leading language service providers are located in English-speaking countries. TransPerfect, the world's largest privately held provider of translation services, led the ranking with annual revenue amounting to more than 1.6 billion U.S. dollars. The New York-based firm was founded in 1992, and it currently operates in 170 different languages, employing more than 5,000 certified linguists.