The U.S. Census Bureau today released its 2024 Nonemployer Statistics (NES), providing annual subnational economic data on businesses that have no paid employees.
NES covers businesses that are subject to federal income tax and have receipts of $1,000 or more, or $1 or more for the Construction sector. The data include the number of nonemployer establishments and total receipts.
Figures are available by varying levels of industry detail across 18 sectors, defined by the 2022 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). They are also broken down by varying levels of geography, including national, state, metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area, combined statistical area and county.
Additional breakdowns cover legal form of organization at the national and state levels, and receipts-size class at the national level.
NES data come from business income tax records the IRS provides to the Census Bureau. According to the agency, most business establishments in the United States are nonemployers.
The Census Bureau describes itself as the nation's leading provider of quality data about its people and economy and the federal government's largest statistical agency. Policy-makers, businesses and the public use its data to make informed decisions.