US states by nonemployer business receipts: wholesale trade

California had the highest nonemployer business receipts: wholesale trade of 51 states in 2020, at $6.51 billion. District of Columbia had the lowest, at $24.76 million. The median was $404.8 million and the figure for the United States was $38.75 billion. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest6,506.4California

Lowest24.8District of Columbia

Median404.851 states

United States38,746.5History

Map of states, 2020

Under 110
110 to 240
240 to 400
400 to 500
500 to 1,000
1,000 and over

USD million, 2020. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: receipts (RCPTOT), wholesale trade (NAICS 42), all legal forms and receipts sizes. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2020

USD million. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: receipts (RCPTOT), wholesale trade (NAICS 42), all legal forms and receipts sizes. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	States	2020 USD million	Change on 2019
1	California	6,506.4	-2.3%
2	Florida	4,530.3	+5.9%
3	New York	3,617.2	+1.2%
4	Texas	3,517.7	+1%
5	New Jersey	1,901.7	+2.3%
6	Pennsylvania	1,242.1	+1.9%
7	Illinois	1,160.7	+3.5%
8	Georgia	1,093.1	+4%
9	Ohio	1,042.9	-1.2%
10	Michigan	957.6	-0%
11	North Carolina	933.5	+4.2%
12	Tennessee	689.4	+0.5%
13	Arizona	688.1	+1.1%
14	Massachusetts	636.1	+2.1%
15	Washington	606.3	-2.9%
16	Virginia	509.3	-1.6%
17	Wisconsin	507.4	+2.2%
18	Colorado	502.9	-8.4%
19	Missouri	500.4	+3.6%
20	Connecticut	494.4	-2.8%
21	Minnesota	476.5	+1.1%
22	South Carolina	469.5	+6.7%
23	Maryland	456	+0.8%
24	Indiana	453	+0.9%
25	Alabama	413.2	+3.8%
26	Nevada	404.8	+0.8%
27	Louisiana	394.2	-0.3%
28	Oregon	362.1	+3.2%
29	Kentucky	338.6	+3.6%
30	Utah	312.2	+1.4%
31	Oklahoma	304.3	+3.2%
32	Iowa	280.3	+14.8%
33	Mississippi	270.1	+8.6%
34	Kansas	249	+3.2%
35	Arkansas	226.6	+8.5%
36	New Hampshire	202.7	-2.6%
37	Delaware	189.3	-2.7%
38	Hawaii	159.2	-16.3%
39	Idaho	147	+7.1%
40	New Mexico	131.3	-10.9%
41	Maine	130	+1.7%
42	Nebraska	121.1	+0.3%
43	Montana	103	+10.9%
44	West Virginia	101.6	+11.7%
45	Rhode Island	91.5	-6%
46	Wyoming	84.4	+32.6%
47	Vermont	61.8	-11.5%
48	South Dakota	61.4	+3.1%
49	North Dakota	54.6	+1.3%
50	Alaska	35	+5.9%
51	District of Columbia	24.8	+22.3%

Other periods

About this ranking

Receipts of businesses without paid employees in wholesale trade (NAICS 42), 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), wholesale trade (NAICS 42), all legal forms and receipts sizes. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2020/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. (2023). Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: receipts (RCPTOT), wholesale trade (NAICS 42), all legal forms and receipts sizes (US states by nonemployer business receipts: wholesale trade, 2020) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2020/historical-datasets/

MLA 9

Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: receipts (RCPTOT), wholesale trade (NAICS 42), all legal forms and receipts sizes, US states by nonemployer business receipts: wholesale trade, 2020. U.S. Census Bureau, 17 Aug. 2023, https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2020/historical-datasets/. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-receipts-wholesale-trade/us-states?period=2020. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2023. Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: receipts (RCPTOT), wholesale trade (NAICS 42), all legal forms and receipts sizes. US states by nonemployer business receipts: wholesale trade, 2020. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2020/historical-datasets/. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-receipts-wholesale-trade/us-states?period=2020.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2023) Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: receipts (RCPTOT), wholesale trade (NAICS 42), all legal forms and receipts sizes, US states by nonemployer business receipts: wholesale trade, 2020 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2020/historical-datasets/, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-receipts-wholesale-trade/us-states?period=2020 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_us_states_by_nonemployer_2020,
  author = {{U.S. Census Bureau}},
  title = {{Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: receipts (RCPTOT), wholesale trade (NAICS 42), all legal forms and receipts sizes: US states by nonemployer business receipts: wholesale trade, 2020}},
  year = {2023},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2020/historical-datasets/},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-receipts-wholesale-trade/us-states?period=2020. Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: receipts (RCPTOT), wholesale trade (NAICS 42), all legal forms and receipts sizes. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2020/historical-datasets/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Census Bureau
TI  - Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: receipts (RCPTOT), wholesale trade (NAICS 42), all legal forms and receipts sizes: US states by nonemployer business receipts: wholesale trade, 2020
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/08/17
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2020/historical-datasets/
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-receipts-wholesale-trade/us-states?period=2020
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/nonemployer-receipts-wholesale-trade/us-states?period=2020.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Nonemployer Statistics, state and US files: receipts (RCPTOT), wholesale trade (NAICS 42), all legal forms and receipts sizes. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2020/historical-datasets/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

Which state has the highest nonemployer business receipts: wholesale trade?

California, with $6.51 billion in 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which state has the lowest nonemployer business receipts: wholesale trade?

District of Columbia, with $24.76 million in 2020.

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), wholesale trade (NAICS 42), all legal forms and receipts sizes. Retrieved 2026-10-12.