US states by nonemployer businesses: construction

Texas had the highest nonemployer businesses: construction of 51 states in 2022, at 376,379. District of Columbia had the lowest, at 2,156. The median was 40,759 and the figure for the United States was 2.88 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest376,379Texas

Lowest2,156District of Columbia

Median40,75951 states

United States2,875,590History

Map of states, 2022

Under 9,000
9,000 to 21K
21K to 41K
41K to 52K
52K to 91K
91K and over

count, 2022. 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, 2022

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	2022 count	Change on 2021
1	Texas Series break	376,379	+2.8%
2	Florida Series break	277,173	+5.9%
3	California Series break	238,400	+1.8%
4	New York Series break	137,723	+7.7%
5	Georgia Series break	123,942	+1.2%
6	North Carolina Series break	103,132	+3.9%
7	Ohio Series break	97,209	+1.5%
8	Pennsylvania Series break	97,193	+2.9%
9	Illinois Series break	93,508	+1.8%
10	Michigan Series break	85,152	+3%
11	Tennessee Series break	73,436	+2.3%
12	Virginia Series break	67,770	+3.3%
13	New Jersey Series break	63,048	+5.9%
14	Colorado Series break	60,437	0%
15	Massachusetts Series break	59,042	+4.7%
16	Missouri Series break	55,698	+1.3%
17	Arizona Series break	52,367	+6.3%
18	Indiana Series break	51,871	+2.3%
19	Maryland Series break	49,695	+3.7%
20	Louisiana Series break	46,297	+3.3%
21	South Carolina Series break	45,806	+3.5%
22	Alabama Series break	45,245	+1.4%
23	Kentucky Series break	43,189	+3.3%
24	Wisconsin Series break	41,165	+1.7%
25	Minnesota Series break	40,887	+2.5%
26	Oklahoma Series break	40,759	+2.2%
27	Washington Series break	36,289	+5.4%
28	Arkansas Series break	32,817	+1.6%
29	Connecticut Series break	31,650	+2.5%
30	Mississippi Series break	31,436	+0.1%
31	Iowa Series break	27,339	+0.3%
32	Oregon Series break	23,076	+3.2%
33	Utah Series break	22,808	+6.8%
34	Kansas Series break	22,233	+1.6%
35	Maine Series break	18,520	+0.6%
36	Idaho Series break	18,115	+3.9%
37	Nebraska Series break	16,686	+2.4%
38	Nevada Series break	15,979	+7.3%
39	New Hampshire Series break	15,830	-0.1%
40	Montana Series break	14,800	+3.5%
41	New Mexico Series break	12,780	+5.1%
42	West Virginia Series break	9,430	+3.1%
43	Hawaii Series break	9,011	+4.1%
44	Vermont Series break	8,865	+2.5%
45	Rhode Island Series break	8,557	+2.8%
46	South Dakota Series break	7,924	+2.9%
47	Delaware Series break	7,140	+4.2%
48	Wyoming Series break	5,575	+2.3%
49	North Dakota Series break	5,555	+1.6%
50	Alaska Series break	4,496	+3.7%
51	District of Columbia Series break	2,156	+1.2%

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/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), construction (NAICS 23), all legal forms (US states by nonemployer businesses: construction, 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), construction (NAICS 23), all legal forms, US states by nonemployer businesses: construction, 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-construction/us-states?period=2022. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2024. Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), construction (NAICS 23), all legal forms. US states by nonemployer businesses: construction, 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-construction/us-states?period=2022.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2024) Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), construction (NAICS 23), all legal forms, US states by nonemployer businesses: construction, 2022 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2022/historical-datasets/, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-construction/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), construction (NAICS 23), all legal forms: US states by nonemployer businesses: construction, 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-construction/us-states?period=2022. 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/2022/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, 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-construction/us-states?period=2022
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-construction/us-states?period=2022.
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/2022/historical-datasets/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

Which state has the highest nonemployer businesses: construction?

Texas, with 376,379 in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which state has the lowest nonemployer businesses: construction?

District of Columbia, with 2,156 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), construction (NAICS 23), all legal forms. Retrieved 2026-10-12.