How Many People Work At X? (2025)
Updated · Aug 08, 2025
Table of Contents
Introduction
How Many People Work At X?: X, initially Twitter, is a worldwide social networking site. The aftermath of the US$44-billion acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk in October 2022 saw a major upheaval, especially in the number of employees. This piece explores how many people work at X today, tracing the history of the staffing of X from pre-2022 until now, with real numbers, percentages, and salary information.
Editor’s Choice
- From 2023 to 2024, X (formerly Twitter) grew from 2,372 to 2,840 employees, which marks a 19.8% increase but is still 63.6% below the pre-layoff level of 2022.
- With the acquisition of Twitter in 2022, Elon Musk slashed the company’s workforce by about 80%, taking the staff headcount down from about 8,000 to 1,560.
- An average pay at X is about US$122,000 with bonuses typically around US$16,000.
- Users who identify as female were disproportionately laid off—57% of women versus 47% of men; for engineers, 63% of women were laid off versus 48% of men.
- About 74% of laid-off employees stayed in North America, while 14% relocated to Europe and Africa, and 11% found new homes in Asia.
- Average impressions per post increased from 1,206 in 2023 to 2,121 in 2024, even as engagement with posts waned.
- X generated revenues of US$2.5 billion in the year 2024, which is less compared to US$2.9 billion earned in 2023, and way less compared to US$5 billion recorded at its peak in 2021.
- X had 6.2 billion worldwide website visits in March 2024, up from 5.9 billion the previous month.
- In 2025, Elon Musk remains the most followed individual on X, with a follower count of 218 million.
Overview of X Workforce
- Currently, X employs 2,840 workers.
- This denotes a 19.8% rise from 2023. However, it is still 63.6% less than the employee numbers that existed before Elon Musk’s massive layoffs in late 2022.
| Year | Number of Employees | Increase/ Decrease In Employee Count | Percentage Increase/ Decrease |
|
2024 |
2,840 | 470 | 19.80% |
| 2023 | 2,370 | 810 |
51.90% |
|
2022 (Post-Layoffs) |
1,560 | – 5,930 | – 79.2% |
| 2021 | 7,490 | 1,810 |
31.90% |
|
2020 |
5,680 | 740 | 15.00% |
| 2019 | 4,940 | 1,020 |
26.00% |
|
2018 |
3,920 | 550 | 16.30% |
| 2017 | 3,370 | – 210 |
– 5.9% |
|
2016 |
3,580 | – 320 | – 8.2% |
| 2015 | 3,900 | 260 |
7.10% |
|
2014 |
3,640 | 930 | 34.30% |
| 2013 | 2,710 | 2,360 |
674.30% |
|
2011 |
350 | 220 | 169.20% |
| 2010 | 130 | 101 |
348.30% |
|
2009 |
29 | 21 | 262.50% |
| 2008 | 8 | – |
– |
(Source: demandsage.com)
- When Musk acquired the company in late 2022, about 80% of employees were let go in the following months; the employee count dropped to 1,560.
- Ever since that, hiring has been gradually resumed at X, raising staff numbers to 2,370 in 2023 and further up to 2,840 by the end of 2024.
X Employees’ Salary By Job Category
- According to Payscale, salaries at X (formerly known as Twitter) average at around US$122,000 per annum.
- Beyond the base wage, an employee is also awarded a bonus averaging US$16,000.
The following table displays the estimated salaries of X (Twitter) employees by job title:
| Job Title | Range | Average |
| Software Engineer | $78k – $143k (Estimated *) | $107,595 |
| Software Developer | $63k – $145k (Estimated *) | $96,917 |
| Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) | $104k – $193k (Estimated *) | $148,775 |
| Machine Learning Engineer | $87k – $172k (Estimated *) | $126,961 |
| Operations Manager | $41k – $120k (Estimated *) | $70,693 |
| Account Executive | $35k – $60k (Estimated *) | $46,823 |
| Software Engineering Manager | $129k – $203k (Estimated *) | $167,786 |
(Source: payscale.com)
- By comparison and in more specific terms, software engineers at X, in states, can expect to be paid anything from US$78,000 up to US$143,000 every year, with an average salary of US$107,595.
- At the same time, software developers of the company are said to make an average of US$96,917 per year.
- These are highly competitive figures, particularly for tech jobs at this company.
Twitter Layoffs Under Elon Musk
Massive Layoffs Under Musk’s Leadership
- In an innovative and extraordinary display of corporate takeovers in recent technology history, Elon Musk bought Twitter in late 2022.
- Close to 80% of Twitter’s workforce was laid off in association with the US$44 billion deal, meaning over 6,000 employees.
- By April 2023, the headcount shrank from roughly 8,000 employees to a mere 1,500.
- Musk cited the dire financial state of the company and a US$3 billion cash flow negative as key reasons mandating the extensive job cuts.
Changing Metrics and the Performance of X
- Despite continued assurances of growth by Musk and CEO Linda Yaccarino, the independent studies have provided a more nuanced view.
- Edison Research reported a precipitous decline between 2023 and 2024 in engagement.
- Only 19% of the U.S. population reported using X in 2024, which is down from 27% only two years ago.
- This means there has been about a 30% drop in platform usage even as the company boasts of 90 million U.S. users and 10 million new sign-ups in December 2023.
- These diverging accounts have led to continued debate about the actual performance of the platform after its restructuring.
The New Job Opportunities and Inflows of Tech Talent
- The majority of the ex-Twitter employees were rapidly absorbed in the second wave of hiring at big tech companies.
- Workforce analytics by Aura showed 16% of the layoffs went into TikTok, while Reddit absorbed 13% of the laid-off workers, and Google 12%.
- Other destinations of interest included Meta (11%), Spotify (10%), and Snap Inc. (9%).
Ex-Twitter Employees Moving Global
- Upon closure of the layoffs, most former Twitter employees remained within North America, with 74% continuing their careers in the U.S. and Canada.
- Another 14% took the casting in Europe and Africa, whereas 11% found their footing in Asia.
- This global redistribution is but a testament to the worldwide demand for niche tech talent and, on the flip side, the much more dispersed tech workforce.
Role Elevation In New Companies
- Setting aside a step in which they got rehired, a handful of former Twitter employees accepted more prominent roles in their new companies.
- Senior Software Engineer, Senior Account Manager, Director, and Vice Presidential titles became all the more pervasive, with a noticeable increase in C-suite placements.
- This pattern lends credence to such a mixture of talent that was released in the restructuring of Twitter and recognises their value throughout the industry at large.
The Industry-Wide Ramifications of Twitter’s Layoff Strategy
- The Twitter mass layoffs perhaps started a domino effect for the tech industry.
- Following Musk’s very aggressive cost-cutting measures, similar reductions began to be implemented by other Silicon Valley giants.
- The tech sector saw 165,269 layoffs at the end of 2022, followed by 263,180 in 2023, and already 96,551 in 2024.
- A sizable number of those cuts were middle management lying in the pockets of companies echoing the rhetoric of Musk to cut down on layers of bureaucracy and ‘managers managing managers.’
Legal Fallout, and Musk’s Next Moves
- By July 2024, the legal consequences from the Twitter layoffs had unfolded.
- Prior to this date, Elon Musk had won a critical case against former employee Courtney McMillan, who contended that Musk owed him US$500 million in severance payments.
- The court had upheld Musk’s cash-only severance policy under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), although there are other pending lawsuits concerning the layoffs.
X (Twitter) Employee Demographics
Gender Demographic at X (Twitter)
- Before the mass layoffs, X, formerly Twitter, was composed of 56.1% men and 43.9% women.
- Post-acquisition layoffs were said to disproportionately affect female employees.
- Reports showed 57% of women had been laid off as compared to only 47% of men.
- This inequity was further pronounced in engineering, where 63% of women lost their jobs, as opposed to 48% of men in the same function.
Age Demographics and the Impact on Older Workers
- Before the layoffs, 58% of X’s workforce was composed of 20-somethings, and there was also a large number of older workers.
- During the restructuring, it is said that at least 150 older employees were affected by layoffs.
- Per a former employee’s lawsuit, it is believed that around 60% of those laid off were aged 50 or older.
- Furthermore, almost three-quarters of the employees over 60 have been laid off compared to 54% of those under 50.
- These numbers generated concern that there could have been some age-based discrimination during the layoff process.
Regional Distribution Of Laid-Off Employees
- After the layoffs, most of the former X employees—the approximate figure is large, at about 74%—still stayed in North America, pinpointing the deep roots the platform has in the US and Canadian markets.
- Then, 14% moved or pursued their careers across Europe and Africa, and 11% are in Asia now.
X Statistics And Trends
- In 2024, X, formerly known as Twitter, disclosed revenues of USUS$2.5 billion, a decline from US$2.9 billion in 2023, and a major drop from its peak of USUS$5 billion in 2021. Advertising revenues continue to go down, from USUS$4.73 billion in 2022 to USUS$3.31 billion in 2023 and are projected to continue falling to USUS$2.70 billion by 2027.
- From January to June 2024, one-third of all user-reported issues on the platform concerned abuse and harassment, with nearly 30% specifically referring to hateful content.
- During the six months between October 2023 and March 2024, U.S. website traffic took the top spot by reason of 23.21% of all visits, followed by Japan with a total share of 16.06% and the United Kingdom at 5.51%.
- The average post got 2,121 impressions in 2024 compared with 1,206 impressions per post generated in 2023.
- X had 106.23 million users in the United States, 69 million in Japan, and 25 million in India as of 2024.
- Elon remains the individual with the most followers on the platform with 218 million, followed by Barack Obama and Cristiano Ronaldo.
- Musk began acquiring shares in January 2022, culminating in this full acquisition on October 27, 2022, for USUS$43 billion.
- X had 6.2 billion visits in March 2024, climbing from 5.9 billion in the previous month.
Conclusion
As of 2024, X (formerly Twitter) employs 2,840 people, indicative of fabs recovery after Elon Musk’s acquisition and mass layoffs in 2022. While at least slight improvements in staff numbers and engagement have been seen, there still is a decline in revenue and a shift in user dynamics on the wings. Uncertainty thus looms over the future of X amid legal, financial, and industry-wide challenges.
Sources
FAQ.
As of 2024, 2,840 people have been employed by X in different parts of the world. This is an increase of 19.8% from the 2023 workforce of 2,370 employees and is indicative of a modest recovery following Elon Musk’s mass layoffs toward the end of 2022. However, current headcount lags 63.6% behind its 2021 level when Twitter was employing nearly 8,000 personnel.
Base salaries at startup X run an average of US$122,000 annually, with additional bonuses averaging around US$16,000. Base pay depends on function: for example, software engineers might make US$78,000 to US$143,000, with the average being US$107,595; software developers, in turn, averaged about US$96,917.
Considered one of the biggest tech layoffs in recent times, Elon Musk’s US$44 billion buyout of Twitter in October 2022 saw a massive downsizing—nearly 80% of the workforce, amounting to over 6,000 employees, were dismissed to cut costs during a period of a US$3 billion negative cash flow.
The layoffs in X affected mostly women and older workers. Around 57% of women were laid off against 47% of men, and the gap increased in terms of engineering positions: 63% of women engineers versus 48% of the male engineers were laid off.
In 2024, the revenue of X was US$2.5 billion, placing it under decline from US$2.9 billion in 2023 and US$5 billion in 2021. Advertising revenue, which was once X’s revenue core, fell from about US$4.73 billion in 2022 to US$3.31 billion in 2023, with forecasts predicting the dip to continue till US$2.70 billion in 2027.
Maitrayee Dey has a background in Electrical Engineering and has worked in various technical roles before transitioning to writing. Specializing in technology and Artificial Intelligence, she has served as an Academic Research Analyst and Freelance Writer, particularly focusing on education and healthcare in Australia. Maitrayee's lifelong passions for writing and painting led her to pursue a full-time writing career. She is also the creator of a cooking YouTube channel, where she shares her culinary adventures. At Smartphone Thoughts, Maitrayee brings her expertise in technology to provide in-depth smartphone reviews and app-related statistics, making complex topics easy to understand for all readers.
