Internships in 2026 vs. Previous Years: What Actually Changed

Three ascending bars representing internship trends across years, the tallest and most recent bar topped with a graduation cap, with a rising arrow tracing the climb

The short answer: the internship market got measurably tighter for two straight years, then started turning a corner in 2026. Postings shrank from early 2023 through the end of 2025 — reaching their lowest point since 2020 — before picking back up in early 2026 to roughly 2024 levels or better. Meanwhile, more students are applying earlier and to more listings than a couple of classes ago, and the postings that remain are more upfront about pay than they used to be. Here’s the actual before-and-after, with sources, and what it means for how you should run your search this year.

Internship postings on Handshake fell more than 15% between January 2023 and January 2025, even as applications kept climbing — Handshake, “Internships Index 2025”. Separately, Indeed’s own posting data shows the pullback continued through 2025, bottoming out at the lowest level since 2020 by year’s end, before recovering in early 2026 to at-or-above 2024 levels — Indeed Hiring Lab, April 2026.

The internship market shrank for two years, then turned a corner

The clearest year-over-year read comes from Indeed’s own job-postings data, tracked and published by Indeed Hiring Lab in April 2026: internship postings were already down 5% at the start of 2025 compared to the start of 2024, and “the number of available opportunities continued to shrink throughout the year.” By the end of 2025, overall demand for interns had fallen to its lowest level since 2020. Then the trend reversed — Indeed reports demand for interns “picked up at the start of this year and is in line with or even slightly ahead of 2024 levels so far.”

Handshake’s independent posting data tells the same downturn story over a longer window: internship postings on its platform declined more than 15% from January 2023 to January 2025, per its Internships Index 2025. Two different platforms, two different measurement windows, the same direction — a real multi-year contraction, not a one-report blip.

More students competing for fewer spots

The posting decline didn’t cool student interest — if anything, the opposite. Handshake’s same report found that as of January 2025, 41% of Class of 2025 students had applied to at least one internship through the platform, compared to 34% of Class of 2023 students by the end of their undergraduate career. A bigger share of a more recent class had already applied to an internship earlier in their timeline than an older class managed across their whole run. Fewer openings, more applicants per opening, earlier in the cycle than before — that’s the shape of the tightening, concretely.

The postings that remain are more upfront about pay

One genuine improvement: internship listings got more transparent about compensation. Handshake’s “Gen Z hiring trends for 2026” report found salary disclosure on internship postings rose from 70% to 81% between 2024 and 2025 — a bigger jump than the parallel move for full-time postings (73% to 77% over the same period). If you’ve been burned by vague “competitive stipend” listings in past cycles, you have more real numbers to screen by than a couple of years ago.

What this means for how you search in 2026

Start earlier than you think you need to. More of each incoming class is applying earlier in their timeline than prior classes did — waiting until “internship season” proper now means competing with people who started weeks ahead of you.
Treat every application like a real one. With more applicants chasing each listing, there’s less room for a generic, untailored submission to slide through on volume alone.
Use pay transparency to prioritize. With over 80% of internship postings now disclosing salary, a listing that still hides it is worth extra scrutiny, not just extra hope.
Don’t extrapolate 2025’s worst months onto 2026. The freshest data available — Indeed’s April 2026 read — shows demand recovering to at-or-above 2024 levels. The trough is real, but it’s behind, not ahead of, where the market sits right now.

Once you land the interview, the work of turning that internship into real, resume-ready experience is a separate skill — see how to use an internship to bridge a skill gap for the playbook, or how to write a resume with no experience if this would be your first.

FAQ

Are there fewer internships in 2026 than in previous years?

It’s mixed, and the timing matters. Postings fell steadily from early 2023 through the end of 2025, hitting their lowest point since 2020, per Indeed Hiring Lab. But the same report shows postings recovering in early 2026 to roughly 2024 levels or slightly ahead — so the multi-year picture is a real contraction, while the current-year trend is a recovery, not a continued decline.

Why did internship postings decline from 2023 to 2025?

The data confirms the trend clearly but doesn’t establish a single confirmed cause — treat any specific explanation you read elsewhere as a theory unless it cites its own source.

Is it harder to get an internship now than a few years ago?

Competition per posting has risen. Handshake’s data shows a larger share of the Class of 2025 had applied to an internship by January of their search than the Class of 2023 had applied across their entire undergraduate career, on a base of postings that had shrunk more than 15% over that same window.

Do internships pay better or more transparently than they used to?

More transparently, confirmed: salary disclosure on Handshake internship postings rose from 70% to 81% between 2024 and 2025. Whether the pay itself rose isn’t something this data set measures.

What should I do differently applying in 2026 vs. a couple of years ago?

Apply earlier, tailor every application instead of relying on volume, and lean on the now-common salary disclosure to prioritize which listings are worth your time.