How Many Americans Are Self-Employed in 2024?
The benefits of being self-employed are clear—work flexibility, not having to answer to a boss, getting to choose the work you want to do, and more.
If you’re thinking about becoming a self-employed worker in the US, it helps to get an overview of the trends and statistics about self-employment—more specifically, understand how many Americans are self-employed.
Number of self-employed people in the US: October 2023–October 2024
Here’s the number of people who are self-employed over the past year.
|
Month |
Number of self-employed in the US |
|
Oct 2023 |
9.66 million |
|
Nov 2023 |
9.72 million |
|
Dec 2023 |
10.01 million |
|
Jan 2024 |
9.77 million |
|
Feb 2024 |
10.03 million |
|
Mar 2024 |
10.18 million |
|
Apr 2024 |
9.95 million |
|
May 2024 |
10.07 million |
|
Jun 2024 |
9.68 million |
|
Jul 2024 |
9.83 million |
|
Aug 2024 |
10.11 million |
|
Sep 2024 |
9.85 million |
|
Oct 2024 |
9.84 million |
According to the latest figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), as of October 2024, the number of self-employed people in the US is 9.84 million. This represents a 0.11% decline from the previous month and a 1.8% annual decrease. It is also one of the lowest numbers recorded so far in 2024.
The number of self-employed in the US has been fluctuating over the past year. In October 2023, there were 9.66 million self-employed. This rose slightly in November 2023, to 9.72 million, before another increase the month brought the number of self-employed people past the 10 million mark. The number of self-employed in the US continued to fluctuate around the 10 million mark—hovering slightly above or below—until June 2024, when it declined to 9.68 million, the lowest level recorded so far in 2024.
In 2023, the average number of self-employed in the US per month was 9.73 million—a 1.45% fall from the previous year’s 9.87 million.
COVID-19 pandemic impact on the number of self-employed people in the US
In 2020, the number of self-employed in the US tumbled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The lowest number recorded was in April 2020. At 8.25 million, this was an 11% year-over-year decrease, and the first time the number of self-employed workers in the US fell below 9 million in at least seven years.
The decline in the number of self-employed in the US was caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in work losses for many of the self-employed. This is no surprise, as self-employed workers are among the most vulnerable during economic downturns and tend to be the first ones to be made redundant.
According to the BLS, self-employed workers were “much more likely” to have lost work as a result of the recession caused by the pandemic than workers in the private and government sectors.
This was most evident in May 2020, during which 42.2% of self-employed workers said they weren’t able to work at some point in the past month as a result of the pandemic.
In July 2021, the number of self-employed in the US hit a record 10.3 million. This coincided with the rebound the US economy experienced in 2021, during which it grew 5.7%.
Number of self-employed people: ranked by cities
|
City, state |
Number of self-employed people |
Percentage of total population |
|
1. New York, NY |
379,081 |
10.0% |
|
2. Los Angeles, CA |
297,479 |
15.9% |
|
3. Chicago, IL |
116,971 |
8.7% |
|
4. Houston, TX |
115,979 |
10.4% |
|
5. Phoenix, AZ |
78,011 |
9.7% |
|
6. Dallas, TX |
68,900 |
10.6% |
|
7. San Diego, CA |
67,033 |
9.7% |
|
8. San Antonio, TX |
65,632 |
9.7% |
|
9. Austin, TX |
60,633 |
10.6% |
|
10. Nashville, TN |
46,233 |
12.5% |
A list sorting the number of self-employed people by city shows that New York City currently tops the chart. As of 2023, the Big Apple was home to more than 379,000 self-employed individuals, accounting for 10% of the city’s population.
Los Angeles follows in second place, with close to 300,000 self-employed people. Chicago and Houston rank next, each with around 116,000. These are the only four US cities that have more than 100,000 self-employed individuals. Phoenix completes the top five cities with the largest number of self-employed people.
It is also worth noting that more than half of the cities on this top 10 list are located in California and Texas, the two states with the highest number of small businesses.
Self-employed people in the US: FAQs
1. How many Americans are self-employed?
As of October 2024, 9.84 million Americans are self-employed.
2. What is the median annual income for self-employed Americans?
According to a recent survey, in 2023, the average income for self-employed people across the US was $54,232.
3. What is the percentage of self-employed people in the workforce?
Self-employed individuals make up 10.1% of the total US workforce. In other words, more than one in 10 workers in the country is self-employed.