65 | EEOC-INITIATED LITIGATION: 2026 EDITION ©2026 Seyfarth Shaw LLP B. EEOC Charge Data Analysis In addition to the EEOC’s annual merit filings, a thorough examination of EEOC charge statistics offers valuable insights into the current status of the employment discrimination space. While merit filings highlight the Commission’s priorities, the charge data from the EEOC reflects the perceptions of American workers regarding their treatment in the workplace. Because filing an administrative charge with the EEOC is a prerequisite to filing a lawsuit under federal antidiscrimination law, employees throughout the country regularly file between 60,000-80,000 EEOC charges per year. Following FY 2017—when the EEOC received 84,254 charges—overall charges steadily declined through FY 2021, when the Commission received a 10-year low of just 61,331 charges. FY 2022 reflected the start of a return to prior levels of EEOC activity with 73,485 charges, and that trend has continued over the last few fiscal years. To that end, the Commission received 81,055 charges in FY 2023, and 88,531 charges in FY 2024. EEOC charges have therefore increased at an annual rate of about 9% since FY 2022. Despite the notable decline in merit filings, the EEOC’s charge data suggests that workers are increasingly filing more discrimination, retaliation, and harassment claims over the past few years. With respect to where these charges are being filed, there are certain geographic “hot spots” in which employees consistently file the most EEOC charges. These states are highlighted by the map graphic below. In FY 2024, the most recent year for which this data is available, Texas again outpaced the rest of the country by nearly 3,000 charges. Following Texas, which saw 9,328 charges filed in FY 2024, Florida (6,611), Georgia (6,119), Illinois (5,277), and California (5,099) rounded out the top five most popular filing locations. Top 10 States in EEOC Charges Received FY 2024 CHARGES RECEIVED BY STATE ■ Texas: 9,328 ■ Florida: 6,611 ■ Georgia: 6,119 ■ Illinois: 5,277 ■ California: 5,099 ■ Pennsylvania: 4,835 ■ New York: 4,105 ■ North Carolina: 3,922 ■ Tennessee: 3,107 ■ Ohio: 2,991 WA AK HI MT WY CO UT AZ NM TX LA AR MS AL TN FL GA NE KS OK MO IL WI MI OH IN KY VA WV PA NY VT NH CT ME MA MN IA SD ND SC NC ID NV CA OR DC MD DE NJ RI ©2026 Seyfarth Shaw LLP
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