US states by nonemployer businesses: administrative support and waste management

Florida had the highest nonemployer businesses: administrative support and waste management of 51 states in 2021, at 331,625. District of Columbia had the lowest, at 3,636. The median was 31,224 and the figure for the United States was 2.61 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest331,625Florida

Lowest3,636District of Columbia

Median31,22451 states

United States2,608,000History

Map of states, 2021

Under 8,000
8,000 to 18K
18K to 31K
31K to 46K
46K to 69K
69K and over

count, 2021. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), administrative and support and waste management and remediation services (NAICS 56), all legal forms. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2021

count. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), administrative and support and waste management and remediation services (NAICS 56), all legal forms. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	States	2021 count	Change on 2020
1	Florida	331,625	+1.9%
2	Texas	314,773	+4%
3	California	276,804	-4.7%
4	Georgia	137,147	+7.7%
5	New York	115,070	-5.1%
6	North Carolina	94,797	+2.8%
7	Illinois	86,054	+1.7%
8	Ohio	77,375	+6.5%
9	Michigan	70,351	+2.4%
10	Tennessee	67,362	+6.2%
11	Pennsylvania	66,601	+3.5%
12	Virginia	59,479	+2.2%
13	New Jersey	53,327	-3.7%
14	Arizona	52,312	+1.8%
15	Louisiana	51,117	+10.2%
16	Alabama	49,382	+6.9%
17	South Carolina	47,764	+4.7%
18	Maryland	45,106	-1.4%
19	Indiana	42,583	+5.7%
20	Colorado	41,988	+3%
21	Missouri	41,471	+4.1%
22	Massachusetts	38,628	-0.6%
23	Oklahoma	32,982	+0.7%
24	Washington	32,623	+0.9%
25	Kentucky	32,402	+2.6%
26	Mississippi	31,224	+9.2%
27	Minnesota	28,682	+2.2%
28	Wisconsin	26,014	+3.8%
29	Arkansas	25,978	+5.8%
30	Nevada	23,014	+4.6%
31	Connecticut	22,090	-2.3%
32	Oregon	20,580	+0.5%
33	Utah	18,409	+4.8%
34	Kansas	18,078	+3.1%
35	Iowa	17,608	+4.3%
36	Nebraska	11,787	+4.6%
37	Idaho	11,426	+5.8%
38	Hawaii	11,096	+1.6%
39	New Mexico	10,362	+0.3%
40	Maine	10,010	+7.9%
41	West Virginia	8,289	+6.9%
42	New Hampshire	8,272	+1.5%
43	Montana	7,151	+7.5%
44	Rhode Island	6,168	-0.5%
45	Delaware	6,077	+5.3%
46	South Dakota	5,370	+6.4%
47	Vermont	5,251	+3.6%
48	Wyoming	4,292	+2.8%
49	North Dakota	4,120	-0.3%
50	Alaska	3,893	+5.7%
51	District of Columbia	3,636	+4%

Other periods

About this ranking

Number of businesses without paid employees in administrative and support and waste management and remediation services (NAICS 56), from the U.S. Census Bureau Nonemployer Statistics.

Nonemployer Statistics: businesses with no paid employees that are subject to federal income tax, mostly the self-employed, counted from tax records, with receipts above small minimum amounts. Census says some years are not comparable with earlier ones, and they are marked as series breaks: 2018 in every sector (businesses were reclassified from their descriptions, which moved many out of other services), 2022 in every sector (new receipts cutoffs) and 2017 in utilities (the same reclassification). Most nonemployers are sole proprietors whose business may be a side activity. Published about 18 months after the reference year.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the states are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Census Bureau. Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), administrative and support and waste management and remediation services (NAICS 56), all legal forms. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2021/historical-datasets/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

U.S. Census Bureau. (2024). Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), administrative and support and waste management and remediation services (NAICS 56), all legal forms (US states by nonemployer businesses: administrative support and waste management, 2021) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2021/historical-datasets/

MLA 9

Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), administrative and support and waste management and remediation services (NAICS 56), all legal forms, US states by nonemployer businesses: administrative support and waste management, 2021. U.S. Census Bureau, 14 Mar. 2024, https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2021/historical-datasets/. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-administrative-support/us-states?period=2021. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2024. Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), administrative and support and waste management and remediation services (NAICS 56), all legal forms. US states by nonemployer businesses: administrative support and waste management, 2021. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2021/historical-datasets/. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-administrative-support/us-states?period=2021.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2024) Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), administrative and support and waste management and remediation services (NAICS 56), all legal forms, US states by nonemployer businesses: administrative support and waste management, 2021 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2021/historical-datasets/, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-administrative-support/us-states?period=2021 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_us_states_by_nonemployer_2021,
  author = {{U.S. Census Bureau}},
  title = {{Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), administrative and support and waste management and remediation services (NAICS 56), all legal forms: US states by nonemployer businesses: administrative support and waste management, 2021}},
  year = {2024},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2021/historical-datasets/},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-administrative-support/us-states?period=2021. Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), administrative and support and waste management and remediation services (NAICS 56), all legal forms. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2021/historical-datasets/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Census Bureau
TI  - Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), administrative and support and waste management and remediation services (NAICS 56), all legal forms: US states by nonemployer businesses: administrative support and waste management, 2021
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/03/14
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2021/historical-datasets/
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-administrative-support/us-states?period=2021
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-administrative-support/us-states?period=2021.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), administrative and support and waste management and remediation services (NAICS 56), all legal forms. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2021/historical-datasets/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

Which state has the highest nonemployer businesses: administrative support and waste management?

Florida, with 331,625 in 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which state has the lowest nonemployer businesses: administrative support and waste management?

District of Columbia, with 3,636 in 2021.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), administrative and support and waste management and remediation services (NAICS 56), all legal forms. Retrieved 2026-10-12.