US states by nonemployer businesses: transportation and warehousing

California had the highest nonemployer businesses: transportation and warehousing of 51 states in 2018, at 406,364. Vermont had the lowest, at 1,793. The median was 22,413 and the figure for the United States was 2.57 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest406,364California

Lowest1,793Vermont

Median22,41351 states

United States2,572,386History

Map of states, 2018

Under 5,000
5,000 to 12K
12K to 22K
22K to 42K
42K to 68K
68K and over

count, 2018. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), transportation and warehousing (NAICS 48-49), 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), transportation and warehousing (NAICS 48-49), all legal forms. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	States	2018 count	Change on 2017
1	California Series break	406,364	+13.1%
2	Florida Series break	250,936	+18.8%
3	Texas Series break	248,171	+18%
4	New York Series break	230,665	+21.2%
5	Illinois Series break	146,248	+10.2%
6	New Jersey Series break	97,798	+20.5%
7	Georgia Series break	89,324	+17.1%
8	Pennsylvania Series break	80,172	+19.5%
9	Ohio Series break	68,752	+18%
10	Virginia Series break	66,138	+14.9%
11	Massachusetts Series break	62,306	+14.8%
12	Maryland Series break	60,065	+14.3%
13	North Carolina Series break	55,370	+17.6%
14	Washington Series break	53,986	+18.4%
15	Michigan Series break	52,399	+21.9%
16	Arizona Series break	46,762	+13.6%
17	Colorado Series break	45,167	+19.7%
18	Minnesota Series break	39,987	+18.3%
19	Tennessee Series break	39,715	+16.6%
20	Indiana Series break	35,998	+14.6%
21	Nevada Series break	32,412	+18.4%
22	Missouri Series break	32,334	+17.6%
23	Louisiana Series break	28,581	+14.5%
24	South Carolina Series break	24,169	+16.3%
25	Wisconsin Series break	24,026	+13.6%
26	Oregon Series break	22,413	+16.1%
27	Kentucky Series break	21,343	+15.9%
28	Connecticut Series break	19,365	+22.9%
29	Alabama Series break	18,536	+13.3%
30	Oklahoma Series break	17,353	+16.7%
31	Utah Series break	14,954	+27.3%
32	Iowa Series break	14,622	+10.1%
33	Mississippi Series break	13,878	+10.6%
34	Kansas Series break	12,437	+14.9%
35	Arkansas Series break	12,296	+7%
36	Nebraska Series break	10,425	+14.9%
37	Hawaii Series break	8,179	+19.2%
38	District of Columbia Series break	7,824	+7.1%
39	Idaho Series break	7,681	+16.9%
40	New Mexico Series break	7,503	+20.4%
41	Rhode Island Series break	7,384	+26.4%
42	Delaware Series break	5,319	+25.6%
43	West Virginia Series break	4,599	+11.8%
44	Maine Series break	4,367	+16.8%
45	New Hampshire Series break	4,344	+19.7%
46	North Dakota Series break	4,247	+20.7%
47	South Dakota Series break	4,103	+24.1%
48	Montana Series break	3,943	+13.1%
49	Alaska Series break	3,505	+19.2%
50	Wyoming Series break	2,128	+11.2%
51	Vermont Series break	1,793	+10.2%

Other periods

About this ranking

Number of businesses without paid employees in transportation and warehousing (NAICS 48-49), 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), transportation and warehousing (NAICS 48-49), 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), transportation and warehousing (NAICS 48-49), all legal forms (US states by nonemployer businesses: transportation and warehousing, 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), transportation and warehousing (NAICS 48-49), all legal forms, US states by nonemployer businesses: transportation and warehousing, 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-transportation-warehousing/us-states?period=2018. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2020. Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), transportation and warehousing (NAICS 48-49), all legal forms. US states by nonemployer businesses: transportation and warehousing, 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-transportation-warehousing/us-states?period=2018.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2020) Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), transportation and warehousing (NAICS 48-49), all legal forms, US states by nonemployer businesses: transportation and warehousing, 2018 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2018/historical-datasets/, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-transportation-warehousing/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), transportation and warehousing (NAICS 48-49), all legal forms: US states by nonemployer businesses: transportation and warehousing, 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-transportation-warehousing/us-states?period=2018. Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), transportation and warehousing (NAICS 48-49), 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), transportation and warehousing (NAICS 48-49), all legal forms: US states by nonemployer businesses: transportation and warehousing, 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-transportation-warehousing/us-states?period=2018
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-transportation-warehousing/us-states?period=2018.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: establishments (ESTAB), transportation and warehousing (NAICS 48-49), all legal forms. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2018/historical-datasets/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Embed code

<iframe src="https://invokely.ai/embed/rankings/nonemployer-businesses-transportation-warehousing/us-states?period=2018" width="760" height="500" title="US states by nonemployer businesses: transportation and warehousing, 2018, chart from Invokely" loading="lazy" style="border:0;width:100%;max-width:760px" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin"></iframe>

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

Rank US states by nonemployer businesses: transportation and warehousing using official data, and cite the source.

rank_places {"indicator":"nonemployer_establishments_transportation_warehousing","level":"region","within":"United States","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=nonemployer_establishments_transportation_warehousing&level=region&within=United%20States&limit=10

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

Which state has the highest nonemployer businesses: transportation and warehousing?

California, with 406,364 in 2018, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which state has the lowest nonemployer businesses: transportation and warehousing?

Vermont, with 1,793 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), transportation and warehousing (NAICS 48-49), all legal forms. Retrieved 2026-10-12.