US states by nonemployer businesses: arts, entertainment and recreation

California had the highest nonemployer businesses: arts, entertainment and recreation of 51 states in 2022, at 230,347. North Dakota had the lowest, at 3,332. The median was 20,027 and the figure for the United States was 1.68 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest230,347California

Lowest3,332North Dakota

Median20,02751 states

United States1,679,020History

Map of states, 2022

Under 7,000
7,000 to 10K
10K to 20K
20K to 34K
34K to 48K
48K and over

count, 2022. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS 71), all legal forms. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2022

count. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS 71), all legal forms. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	States	2022 count	Change on 2021
1	California Series break	230,347	+8.8%
2	New York Series break	144,596	+11.5%
3	Texas Series break	126,451	+11%
4	Florida Series break	117,764	+11.2%
5	Illinois Series break	59,780	+9.9%
6	Pennsylvania Series break	57,979	+13%
7	Georgia Series break	55,855	+7.1%
8	Ohio Series break	50,333	+9.9%
9	North Carolina Series break	49,776	+12.7%
10	New Jersey Series break	45,237	+13.9%
11	Tennessee Series break	44,291	+11%
12	Michigan Series break	44,226	+12.9%
13	Massachusetts Series break	42,748	+12.9%
14	Virginia Series break	41,253	+9.6%
15	Colorado Series break	37,629	+10.2%
16	Washington Series break	36,403	+12.4%
17	Minnesota Series break	34,381	+13.1%
18	Maryland Series break	33,404	+12.5%
19	Arizona Series break	32,135	+12.3%
20	Missouri Series break	26,313	+10%
21	Oregon Series break	25,990	+12.8%
22	Wisconsin Series break	25,790	+12.3%
23	Indiana Series break	25,403	+10.3%
24	South Carolina Series break	22,410	+12%
25	Nevada Series break	20,721	+13%
26	Connecticut Series break	20,027	+12.6%
27	Louisiana Series break	18,769	+9.4%
28	Utah Series break	17,858	+11.9%
29	Alabama Series break	16,749	+11.5%
30	Kentucky Series break	16,537	+11.5%
31	Oklahoma Series break	14,710	+8.3%
32	Iowa Series break	12,441	+10.5%
33	Kansas Series break	12,031	+10.4%
34	New Mexico Series break	10,519	+11.8%
35	Arkansas Series break	9,527	+11.4%
36	Maine Series break	8,867	+10.5%
37	Mississippi Series break	8,760	+8.6%
38	Idaho Series break	8,246	+10%
39	Nebraska Series break	8,131	+7.6%
40	New Hampshire Series break	7,729	+10.3%
41	Hawaii Series break	7,331	+13.7%
42	Montana Series break	6,909	+8.8%
43	Rhode Island Series break	6,474	+14.8%
44	District of Columbia Series break	5,507	+11.7%
45	Vermont Series break	5,422	+10.5%
46	West Virginia Series break	5,224	+12.3%
47	Delaware Series break	4,692	+12.7%
48	South Dakota Series break	4,643	+7.3%
49	Alaska Series break	3,858	+13.5%
50	Wyoming Series break	3,512	+8.5%
51	North Dakota Series break	3,332	+12.2%

Other periods

About this ranking

Number of businesses without paid employees in arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS 71), 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), arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS 71), all legal forms. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2022/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), arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS 71), all legal forms (US states by nonemployer businesses: arts, entertainment and recreation, 2022) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2022/historical-datasets/

MLA 9

Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS 71), all legal forms, US states by nonemployer businesses: arts, entertainment and recreation, 2022. U.S. Census Bureau, 12 Dec. 2024, https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2022/historical-datasets/. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-arts-entertainment/us-states?period=2022. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2024. Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS 71), all legal forms. US states by nonemployer businesses: arts, entertainment and recreation, 2022. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2022/historical-datasets/. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-arts-entertainment/us-states?period=2022.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2024) Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS 71), all legal forms, US states by nonemployer businesses: arts, entertainment and recreation, 2022 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2022/historical-datasets/, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-arts-entertainment/us-states?period=2022 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_us_states_by_nonemployer_2022,
  author = {{U.S. Census Bureau}},
  title = {{Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS 71), all legal forms: US states by nonemployer businesses: arts, entertainment and recreation, 2022}},
  year = {2024},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2022/historical-datasets/},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-arts-entertainment/us-states?period=2022. Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS 71), all legal forms. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2022/historical-datasets/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Census Bureau
TI  - Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS 71), all legal forms: US states by nonemployer businesses: arts, entertainment and recreation, 2022
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/12/12
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2022/historical-datasets/
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-arts-entertainment/us-states?period=2022
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-arts-entertainment/us-states?period=2022.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS 71), all legal forms. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2022/historical-datasets/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Rank US states by nonemployer businesses: arts, entertainment and recreation using official data, and cite the source.

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Questions

Which state has the highest nonemployer businesses: arts, entertainment and recreation?

California, with 230,347 in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which state has the lowest nonemployer businesses: arts, entertainment and recreation?

North Dakota, with 3,332 in 2022.

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), arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS 71), all legal forms. Retrieved 2026-10-12.