US states by nonemployer businesses: construction

Texas had the highest nonemployer businesses: construction of 51 states in 2018, at 324,495. District of Columbia had the lowest, at 1,957. The median was 37,074 and the figure for the United States was 2.64 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest324,495Texas

Lowest1,957District of Columbia

Median37,07451 states

United States2,635,432History

Map of states, 2018

Under 9,000
9,000 to 18K
18K to 37K
37K to 46K
46K to 88K
88K and over

count, 2018. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), construction (NAICS 23), all legal forms. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2018

count. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), construction (NAICS 23), all legal forms. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	States	2018 count	Change on 2017
1	Texas Series break	324,495	+7.4%
2	California Series break	239,250	+8.3%
3	Florida Series break	226,643	+14.7%
4	New York Series break	134,139	+3.1%
5	Georgia Series break	106,860	+7.4%
6	Pennsylvania Series break	93,947	+1.8%
7	North Carolina Series break	93,580	+6.6%
8	Ohio Series break	91,908	+2.6%
9	Illinois Series break	91,482	+1.3%
10	Michigan Series break	80,152	+3.9%
11	Tennessee Series break	65,876	+5%
12	Virginia Series break	62,859	+4.8%
13	Colorado Series break	58,564	+4.5%
14	New Jersey Series break	58,530	+5.7%
15	Massachusetts Series break	58,069	+3.6%
16	Missouri Series break	51,960	+2%
17	Indiana Series break	49,106	+3.5%
18	Maryland Series break	44,736	+6.2%
19	Arizona Series break	42,964	+10.5%
20	Alabama Series break	41,398	+3.7%
21	Louisiana Series break	40,232	+3.3%
22	Minnesota Series break	39,949	+2.5%
23	Kentucky Series break	39,918	+2.1%
24	South Carolina Series break	39,722	+6.2%
25	Wisconsin Series break	39,474	+3%
26	Oklahoma Series break	37,074	+1.4%
27	Washington Series break	33,926	+5.9%
28	Connecticut Series break	31,311	+1.3%
29	Arkansas Series break	29,889	+3.8%
30	Mississippi Series break	29,209	+2.7%
31	Iowa Series break	26,272	+1.7%
32	Oregon Series break	22,437	+4%
33	Kansas Series break	20,975	+1.7%
34	Utah Series break	18,775	+6.8%
35	Maine Series break	17,692	+1.5%
36	New Hampshire Series break	16,299	+1.5%
37	Nebraska Series break	15,828	+2.3%
38	Idaho Series break	15,681	+8.3%
39	Montana Series break	13,128	+4.6%
40	Nevada Series break	12,968	+16.5%
41	New Mexico Series break	11,810	+7.4%
42	West Virginia Series break	9,109	+1.3%
43	Vermont Series break	8,806	+1.8%
44	Hawaii Series break	8,784	+9.1%
45	Rhode Island Series break	8,540	+2.1%
46	South Dakota Series break	7,549	+1.9%
47	Delaware Series break	6,358	+3.8%
48	North Dakota Series break	5,612	+3%
49	Wyoming Series break	5,079	+4.6%
50	Alaska Series break	4,551	+2.9%
51	District of Columbia Series break	1,957	+1.6%

Other periods

About this ranking

Number of businesses without paid employees in construction (NAICS 23), 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), construction (NAICS 23), all legal forms. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2018/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. (2020). Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), construction (NAICS 23), all legal forms (US states by nonemployer businesses: construction, 2018) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2018/historical-datasets/

MLA 9

Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), construction (NAICS 23), all legal forms, US states by nonemployer businesses: construction, 2018. U.S. Census Bureau, 21 May 2020, https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2018/historical-datasets/. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-construction/us-states?period=2018. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2020. Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), construction (NAICS 23), all legal forms. US states by nonemployer businesses: construction, 2018. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2018/historical-datasets/. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-construction/us-states?period=2018.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2020) Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), construction (NAICS 23), all legal forms, US states by nonemployer businesses: construction, 2018 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2018/historical-datasets/, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-construction/us-states?period=2018 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_us_states_by_nonemployer_2018,
  author = {{U.S. Census Bureau}},
  title = {{Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), construction (NAICS 23), all legal forms: US states by nonemployer businesses: construction, 2018}},
  year = {2020},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2018/historical-datasets/},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-construction/us-states?period=2018. Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), construction (NAICS 23), all legal forms. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2018/historical-datasets/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Census Bureau
TI  - Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), construction (NAICS 23), all legal forms: US states by nonemployer businesses: construction, 2018
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/05/21
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2018/historical-datasets/
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-construction/us-states?period=2018
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-construction/us-states?period=2018.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), construction (NAICS 23), all legal forms. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2018/historical-datasets/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

Which state has the highest nonemployer businesses: construction?

Texas, with 324,495 in 2018, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which state has the lowest nonemployer businesses: construction?

District of Columbia, with 1,957 in 2018.

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), construction (NAICS 23), all legal forms. Retrieved 2026-10-12.