How Many Americans Are Self-Employed?
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 in the US: 2022–2023
According to the latest figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), as of December 2024, the number of self-employed people in the US is 10.01 million. This represents a 3.08% increase from the previous month and a 2.14% annual increase. It is also the second highest number recorded in 2023.
The number of self-employed in the US has been fluctuating over the past year. In December 2022, there were 9.8 million self-employed. This rose in January 2023, to 9.91 million, and increased further to 10.08 million the following month. This was followed by three consecutive months of decreases, as the number of self-employed in the US fell to 9.41 million in May. The subsequent six months saw this figure rise and fall month after month, wavering between 9.51 million and 9.74 million, before growing to surpass 10 million in December.
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In 2023, the average number of self-employed in the US per month was 9.73 million—a 1.5% fall from the previous year’s 9.87 million.
COVID-19 pandemic impact on the number of self-employed 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.
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