US states by nonemployer businesses: retail trade

California had the highest nonemployer businesses: retail trade of 51 states in 2022, at 235,168. District of Columbia had the lowest, at 2,526. The median was 27,265 and the figure for the United States was 2.17 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest235,168California

Lowest2,526District of Columbia

Median27,26551 states

United States2,170,322History

Map of states, 2022

Under 8,000
8,000 to 19K
19K to 27K
27K to 40K
40K to 67K
67K and over

count, 2022. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), retail trade (NAICS 44-45), 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), retail trade (NAICS 44-45), all legal forms. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	States	2022 count	Change on 2021
1	California Series break	235,168	-14.4%
2	Texas Series break	216,448	-5.6%
3	Florida Series break	181,044	-5%
4	New York Series break	119,987	-4.6%
5	Illinois Series break	86,244	-13.6%
6	Georgia Series break	81,653	-6.1%
7	Pennsylvania Series break	76,486	-9.1%
8	Ohio Series break	68,573	-8.9%
9	New Jersey Series break	67,863	+13.8%
10	North Carolina Series break	66,674	-6.8%
11	Michigan Series break	61,460	-8.8%
12	Virginia Series break	57,930	-12.2%
13	Tennessee Series break	48,218	-7.1%
14	Maryland Series break	43,311	-11.4%
15	Massachusetts Series break	43,151	-11.6%
16	Arizona Series break	42,064	-7.6%
17	Missouri Series break	41,568	-16%
18	Indiana Series break	39,897	-7.4%
19	Washington Series break	38,611	-9.5%
20	Wisconsin Series break	38,177	-8.7%
21	Colorado Series break	36,375	-10.5%
22	Minnesota Series break	35,981	-11.5%
23	South Carolina Series break	33,668	-6.8%
24	Alabama Series break	31,797	-6.2%
25	Louisiana Series break	29,377	-9.1%
26	Kentucky Series break	27,265	-8.3%
27	Utah Series break	25,824	-13.1%
28	Oklahoma Series break	25,385	-7.6%
29	Oregon Series break	24,691	-9.3%
30	Nevada Series break	21,349	-9%
31	Iowa Series break	20,816	-12.4%
32	Arkansas Series break	20,710	-1.7%
33	Connecticut Series break	19,604	-6.4%
34	Mississippi Series break	19,225	-4.5%
35	Kansas Series break	19,084	-8.9%
36	Idaho Series break	14,014	-11.4%
37	Nebraska Series break	13,005	-10.5%
38	New Mexico Series break	10,565	-8.1%
39	Hawaii Series break	9,766	-12.4%
40	West Virginia Series break	9,435	-9.7%
41	Maine Series break	9,246	-9.4%
42	New Hampshire Series break	8,494	-11%
43	Montana Series break	8,106	-12.4%
44	South Dakota Series break	7,465	-12.8%
45	Delaware Series break	6,942	-3.8%
46	Rhode Island Series break	5,513	-8.1%
47	North Dakota Series break	5,441	-12.7%
48	Vermont Series break	5,117	-11.2%
49	Wyoming Series break	5,095	-6.6%
50	Alaska Series break	3,914	-10.7%
51	District of Columbia Series break	2,526	+4.7%

Other periods

About this ranking

Number of businesses without paid employees in retail trade (NAICS 44-45), 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), retail trade (NAICS 44-45), 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), retail trade (NAICS 44-45), all legal forms (US states by nonemployer businesses: retail trade, 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), retail trade (NAICS 44-45), all legal forms, US states by nonemployer businesses: retail trade, 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-retail-trade/us-states?period=2022. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2024. Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), retail trade (NAICS 44-45), all legal forms. US states by nonemployer businesses: retail trade, 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-retail-trade/us-states?period=2022.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2024) Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), retail trade (NAICS 44-45), all legal forms, US states by nonemployer businesses: retail trade, 2022 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2022/historical-datasets/, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-retail-trade/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), retail trade (NAICS 44-45), all legal forms: US states by nonemployer businesses: retail trade, 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-retail-trade/us-states?period=2022. Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), retail trade (NAICS 44-45), 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), retail trade (NAICS 44-45), all legal forms: US states by nonemployer businesses: retail trade, 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-retail-trade/us-states?period=2022
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-retail-trade/us-states?period=2022.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), retail trade (NAICS 44-45), 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: retail trade?

California, with 235,168 in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which state has the lowest nonemployer businesses: retail trade?

District of Columbia, with 2,526 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), retail trade (NAICS 44-45), all legal forms. Retrieved 2026-10-12.