US states by nonemployer businesses: other services

California had the highest nonemployer businesses: other services of 51 states in 2018, at 379,626. Alaska had the lowest, at 4,578. The median was 38,243 and the figure for the United States was 2.98 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest379,626California

Lowest4,578Alaska

Median38,24351 states

United States2,978,235History

Map of states, 2018

Under 10K
10K to 24K
24K to 38K
38K to 51K
51K to 86K
86K and over

count, 2018. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), other services (NAICS 81), 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), other services (NAICS 81), all legal forms. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	States	2018 count	Change on 2017
1	California Series break	379,626	-23.2%
2	Texas Series break	296,066	-16.1%
3	Florida Series break	295,154	-19%
4	New York Series break	157,232	-25.9%
5	Georgia Series break	138,277	-15.7%
6	Illinois Series break	114,188	-21.5%
7	North Carolina Series break	103,116	-17.5%
8	Michigan Series break	97,403	-19.4%
9	Ohio Series break	87,158	-20.2%
10	Pennsylvania Series break	82,743	-23.4%
11	Tennessee Series break	73,642	-19.9%
12	Virginia Series break	69,141	-19.9%
13	New Jersey Series break	58,064	-25.2%
14	Arizona Series break	55,680	-20.4%
15	Missouri Series break	53,250	-19.2%
16	Indiana Series break	53,147	-21.4%
17	Louisiana Series break	52,935	-20.2%
18	Alabama Series break	50,719	-19.1%
19	South Carolina Series break	50,344	-17%
20	Maryland Series break	50,011	-20.1%
21	Massachusetts Series break	48,895	-22.1%
22	Colorado Series break	48,376	-19.8%
23	Washington Series break	42,748	-19.3%
24	Kentucky Series break	39,897	-20%
25	Wisconsin Series break	38,575	-21.5%
26	Minnesota Series break	38,243	-24.1%
27	Oklahoma Series break	36,725	-21.5%
28	Mississippi Series break	35,389	-18.4%
29	Arkansas Series break	29,406	-19.3%
30	Nevada Series break	29,126	-17.1%
31	Oregon Series break	28,383	-18.1%
32	Utah Series break	25,128	-17.3%
33	Connecticut Series break	24,383	-22.1%
34	Iowa Series break	24,231	-22.3%
35	Kansas Series break	22,292	-21.6%
36	Nebraska Series break	15,883	-23%
37	Idaho Series break	14,960	-18.1%
38	New Mexico Series break	13,660	-19.8%
39	Hawaii Series break	12,656	-23.6%
40	West Virginia Series break	11,788	-21%
41	Maine Series break	11,085	-22.5%
42	New Hampshire Series break	10,216	-20.4%
43	Montana Series break	9,776	-19.3%
44	Rhode Island Series break	8,996	-21.5%
45	South Dakota Series break	6,798	-25.3%
46	Delaware Series break	6,485	-19.4%
47	District of Columbia Series break	5,723	-20.3%
48	North Dakota Series break	5,716	-24.1%
49	Vermont Series break	5,227	-27%
50	Wyoming Series break	4,995	-19.7%
51	Alaska Series break	4,578	-19.2%

Other periods

About this ranking

Number of businesses without paid employees in other services (repair and maintenance, personal and laundry services, and civic organizations) (NAICS 81), 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), other services (NAICS 81), 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), other services (NAICS 81), all legal forms (US states by nonemployer businesses: other services, 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), other services (NAICS 81), all legal forms, US states by nonemployer businesses: other services, 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-other-services/us-states?period=2018. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2020. Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), other services (NAICS 81), all legal forms. US states by nonemployer businesses: other services, 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-other-services/us-states?period=2018.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2020) Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), other services (NAICS 81), all legal forms, US states by nonemployer businesses: other services, 2018 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2018/historical-datasets/, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-other-services/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), other services (NAICS 81), all legal forms: US states by nonemployer businesses: other services, 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-other-services/us-states?period=2018. Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), other services (NAICS 81), 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), other services (NAICS 81), all legal forms: US states by nonemployer businesses: other services, 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-other-services/us-states?period=2018
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-other-services/us-states?period=2018.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), other services (NAICS 81), 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: other services?

California, with 379,626 in 2018, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which state has the lowest nonemployer businesses: other services?

Alaska, with 4,578 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), other services (NAICS 81), all legal forms. Retrieved 2026-10-12.