US states by nonemployer business receipts: arts, entertainment and recreation

California had the highest nonemployer business receipts: arts, entertainment and recreation of 51 states in 2021, at $9.03 billion. North Dakota had the lowest, at $52.88 million. The median was $463.92 million and the figure for the United States was $45.13 billion. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest9,026.2California

Lowest52.9North Dakota

Median463.951 states

United States45,130.8History

Map of states, 2021

Under 160
160 to 210
210 to 460
460 to 800
800 to 1,200
1,200 and over

USD million, 2021. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: receipts (RCPTOT), arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS 71), all legal forms and receipts sizes. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2021

USD million. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: receipts (RCPTOT), arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS 71), all legal forms and receipts sizes. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	States	2021 USD million	Change on 2020
1	California	9,026.2	+21.2%
2	New York	4,802.6	+23.2%
3	Florida	3,782.7	+26.8%
4	Texas	3,127.1	+34.3%
5	Tennessee	1,742.1	+29.1%
6	New Jersey	1,375.2	+34.7%
7	Pennsylvania	1,294.9	+34.6%
8	Georgia	1,265.5	+27.3%
9	Illinois	1,250.5	+33.5%
10	North Carolina	1,055.3	+23.8%
11	Ohio	1,039.5	+31.9%
12	Massachusetts	942.9	+30.5%
13	Michigan	938.2	+39.6%
14	Nevada	868.5	+28.7%
15	Washington	842.9	+34%
16	Colorado	840.6	+34.2%
17	Virginia	832.1	+26.3%
18	Arizona	790	+25.4%
19	Maryland	667.1	+26.3%
20	Minnesota	635.3	+31.5%
21	Connecticut	543.9	+27.2%
22	Oregon	526.2	+21.5%
23	Indiana	479.5	+36.5%
24	Missouri	475	+25.1%
25	Wisconsin	468.8	+34.4%
26	Louisiana	463.9	+32.4%
27	South Carolina	461.2	+24.4%
28	Oklahoma	408	+31.2%
29	Utah	399.7	+32.3%
30	Kentucky	344.4	+31%
31	Alabama	338.1	+29.4%
32	Kansas	228.5	+30.1%
33	Hawaii	214.5	+44.3%
34	New Mexico	212.3	+32.2%
35	Iowa	208.4	+26.3%
36	Maine	193.9	+39.2%
37	Arkansas	193.2	+21.7%
38	New Hampshire	186.2	+31.8%
39	Idaho	179.8	+26.9%
40	Montana	174	+24.3%
41	Mississippi	169.7	+30.1%
42	Delaware	161.7	+18.4%
43	Nebraska	156.5	+39.1%
44	District of Columbia	139.5	+5.4%
45	Rhode Island	131.4	+37.9%
46	Vermont	113	+9.8%
47	West Virginia	107.9	+46.5%
48	Wyoming	105.3	+29.1%
49	South Dakota	97.7	+24.2%
50	Alaska	76.9	+24.6%
51	North Dakota	52.9	+0.3%

Other periods

About this ranking

Receipts of businesses without paid employees in arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS 71), in millions of current US dollars, 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. Receipts are published in thousands of dollars with noise added to protect individual businesses, and are not adjusted for inflation.

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: receipts (RCPTOT), arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS 71), all legal forms and receipts sizes. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2021/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: receipts (RCPTOT), arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS 71), all legal forms and receipts sizes (US states by nonemployer business receipts: arts, entertainment and recreation, 2021) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2021/historical-datasets/

MLA 9

Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: receipts (RCPTOT), arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS 71), all legal forms and receipts sizes, US states by nonemployer business receipts: arts, entertainment and recreation, 2021. U.S. Census Bureau, 14 Mar. 2024, https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2021/historical-datasets/. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-receipts-arts-entertainment/us-states?period=2021. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2024. Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: receipts (RCPTOT), arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS 71), all legal forms and receipts sizes. US states by nonemployer business receipts: arts, entertainment and recreation, 2021. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2021/historical-datasets/. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-receipts-arts-entertainment/us-states?period=2021.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2024) Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: receipts (RCPTOT), arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS 71), all legal forms and receipts sizes, US states by nonemployer business receipts: arts, entertainment and recreation, 2021 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2021/historical-datasets/, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-receipts-arts-entertainment/us-states?period=2021 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_us_states_by_nonemployer_2021,
  author = {{U.S. Census Bureau}},
  title = {{Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: receipts (RCPTOT), arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS 71), all legal forms and receipts sizes: US states by nonemployer business receipts: arts, entertainment and recreation, 2021}},
  year = {2024},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2021/historical-datasets/},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-receipts-arts-entertainment/us-states?period=2021. Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: receipts (RCPTOT), arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS 71), all legal forms and receipts sizes. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2021/historical-datasets/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Census Bureau
TI  - Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: receipts (RCPTOT), arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS 71), all legal forms and receipts sizes: US states by nonemployer business receipts: arts, entertainment and recreation, 2021
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/03/14
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2021/historical-datasets/
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-receipts-arts-entertainment/us-states?period=2021
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-receipts-arts-entertainment/us-states?period=2021.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: receipts (RCPTOT), arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS 71), all legal forms and receipts sizes. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2021/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-receipts-arts-entertainment/us-states?period=2021" width="760" height="500" title="US states by nonemployer business receipts: arts, entertainment and recreation, 2021, 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 business receipts: arts, entertainment and recreation using official data, and cite the source.

rank_places {"indicator":"nonemployer_receipts_usd_arts_entertainment","level":"region","within":"United States","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=nonemployer_receipts_usd_arts_entertainment&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 business receipts: arts, entertainment and recreation?

California, with $9.03 billion in 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which state has the lowest nonemployer business receipts: arts, entertainment and recreation?

North Dakota, with $52.88 million in 2021.

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: receipts (RCPTOT), arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS 71), all legal forms and receipts sizes. Retrieved 2026-10-12.