Self-employed creatives
Self-employed creatives, state by state
California has the most creative businesses with no employees (328,340 in 2024), then New York and Texas. The US total across seven creative industries is 2.14 million.
- 2.14 millioncreative nonemployers in the US, 2024
- 47states with 5,000+
Which states have the most self-employed creatives?
| California | 328,340 | 170,663 | $17.3 billion |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 194,888 | 110,871 | $9.1 billion |
| Texas | 164,192 | 78,089 | $5.46 billion |
| Florida | 156,918 | 73,770 | $6.83 billion |
| Illinois | 73,202 | 38,692 | $2.13 billion |
| Georgia | 72,540 | 33,788 | $2.29 billion |
| Pennsylvania | 68,386 | 37,197 | $2.05 billion |
| North Carolina | 62,151 | 32,195 | $1.74 billion |
| New Jersey | 59,537 | 29,775 | $2.51 billion |
| Ohio | 57,974 | 30,057 | $1.58 billion |
| Tennessee | 55,922 | 31,094 | $3 billion |
| Michigan | 53,335 | 26,930 | $1.44 billion |
| Virginia | 50,034 | 27,400 | $1.5 billion |
| Washington | 49,873 | 27,012 | $1.62 billion |
| Massachusetts | 49,726 | 28,312 | $1.65 billion |
| Colorado | 49,632 | 25,514 | $1.52 billion |
| Minnesota | 40,109 | 22,601 | $1.08 billion |
| Arizona | 40,075 | 20,404 | $1.42 billion |
| Maryland | 39,414 | 21,592 | $1.11 billion |
| Oregon | 35,261 | 19,514 | $1.05 billion |
| Missouri | 31,265 | 16,164 | $822.1 million |
| Wisconsin | 31,250 | 16,983 | $772.8 million |
| Indiana | 29,740 | 15,455 | $732.5 million |
| South Carolina | 28,562 | 13,993 | $848.9 million |
| Utah | 25,610 | 11,562 | $845.4 million |
| Connecticut | 24,879 | 12,915 | $1.05 billion |
| Nevada | 23,877 | 13,356 | $1.17 billion |
| Louisiana | 22,771 | 11,403 | $675.2 million |
| Alabama | 20,475 | 9,655 | $573.2 million |
| Kentucky | 18,205 | 9,594 | $481.3 million |
| Oklahoma | 17,673 | 8,647 | $496.9 million |
| Kansas | 13,724 | 7,056 | $375.7 million |
| Iowa | 13,626 | 7,068 | $321.5 million |
| New Mexico | 12,166 | 7,653 | $319.9 million |
| Arkansas | 11,421 | 5,454 | $277.2 million |
| Idaho | 11,053 | 5,126 | $329.3 million |
| Maine | 10,678 | 6,512 | $290.9 million |
| Mississippi | 10,297 | 4,956 | $256.4 million |
| Hawaii | 9,901 | 5,273 | $363.9 million |
| New Hampshire | 9,587 | 5,255 | $326.1 million |
| Nebraska | 8,786 | 4,498 | $223.7 million |
| Montana | 8,309 | 4,429 | $252.8 million |
| Rhode Island | 7,968 | 4,537 | $241.1 million |
| District of Columbia | 7,140 | 4,235 | $281.8 million |
| Vermont | 6,376 | 4,023 | $167.3 million |
| Delaware | 5,658 | 2,871 | $489 million |
| West Virginia | 5,525 | 3,063 | $130.4 million |
Questions
Why are some states missing?
States with fewer than 5,000 creative nonemployer businesses (North Dakota, Alaska, Wyoming and South Dakota) do not get their own page: several of their industry groups are a few hundred businesses, too few for the mix to mean much. They are in the full table on the main report.
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Where do these numbers come from?
U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics, 2024 state files.
n = 2,128,031 businesses in the listed states. Last updated 2 October 2026.
Get the data
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This page’s own figures as a CSV, and the full files behind How many creatives work for themselves?. One email unlocks every download on Slice’s data pages.
- This page’s figures (CSV) Every table and figure on this page, with its source line.
- Every state, year and group (CSV) Census nonemployer counts and receipts for seven creative groups: the US and every state, every year from 2014 to 2024.
- All three sources (JSON) The Census series and receipt bands, the BLS self-employment shares by occupation and the UK DCMS figures.
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