1099 worker statistics: how many independent contractors are there?

11.904 million main-job independent contractors

BLS counted 11,904,000 people as independent contractors, independent consultants, or freelance workers on their sole or main job in July 2023. That population represented 7.4 percent of total employment (https://www.bls.gov/news.release/conemp.ta.htm).

The definition includes both self-employed and wage-and-salary workers who reported an independent-contractor arrangement. For multiple jobholders, the main job is the job at which the person usually worked the most hours.

6.899 million contingent workers is a separate measure

BLS separately counted 6,899,000 contingent workers on their sole or main job in July 2023, equal to 4.3 percent of employment (https://www.bls.gov/news.release/conemp.ta.htm).

Contingent status describes whether employment is temporary or not expected to continue. Independent-contractor status describes an alternative work arrangement. BLS measures the classifications separately, and a job can fall into both categories.

Independent contracting increased with age in July 2023

Independent contractors represented:

• 2.2 percent of employed people ages 16 to 24
• 6.9 percent of employed people ages 25 to 54
• 11.5 percent of employed people ages 55 and older
• 16.9 percent of employed people ages 65 and older

All four figures describe the sole-or-main-job population in July 2023 (https://www.bls.gov/news.release/conemp.t05.htm).

Among independent contractors themselves, 36.0 percent were age 55 or older in July 2023 (https://www.bls.gov/news.release/conemp.t05a.htm).

Three BLS cycles provide dated observations

BLS reported:

• 10.3 million independent contractors, 7.4 percent of employment, in February 2005
• 10.6 million independent contractors, 6.9 percent of employment, in May 2017
• 11.904 million independent contractors, 7.4 percent of employment, in July 2023

Sources: https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2005/jul/wk4/art05.htm, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/conemp_06072018.htm, and https://www.bls.gov/news.release/conemp.ta.htm.

These are separate survey cycles with different reference months. They show the published estimates for each cycle but do not support a precise continuous growth rate or a causal conclusion about the gig economy.

Arrangement preference

In July 2023, 80.3 percent of independent contractors on their sole or main job said they preferred their current arrangement. Another 8.3 percent preferred a different arrangement (https://www.bls.gov/news.release/conemp.t09.htm).

The table reports worker preferences. It does not establish why a person selected the arrangement or whether the arrangement was favorable in an individual case.

Health-insurance coverage

In July 2023, 74.2 percent of independent contractors had health-insurance coverage from any source. The corresponding figure for workers in traditional arrangements was 84.9 percent (https://www.bls.gov/news.release/conemp.t10.htm).

Table 10 reports that 54.4 percent of workers in traditional arrangements had employer-provided coverage on their main job. It does not publish an employer-provided percentage for independent contractors because that measure excludes the self-employed and independent contractors.

Independent contracting on second jobs

The July 2023 supplement measured alternative arrangements on second jobs for the first time. BLS counted 1,916,000 independent contractors on a second job, equal to 22.8 percent of the 8,393,000 multiple jobholders measured (https://www.bls.gov/news.release/conemp.t07.htm).

This is a second-job arrangement count. It is separate from the 11.904 million people counted as independent contractors on a sole or main job, and the two figures are not a deduplicated total.

30.4 million nonemployer establishments in 2023

Census counted 30,427,808 nonemployer establishments in 2023, up from 29,811,495 in 2022. The 2023 establishments generated nearly $1.8 trillion in receipts, equal to 6.4 percent of 2023 GDP, and represented 78.4 percent of all U.S. establishments (https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2026/05/small-business-week.html).

For separate employer-business context, Census reported 8.3 million U.S. employer businesses with paid employees in 2022 (https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2025/05/smallest-businesses.html). That comparison uses a different data year and still counts businesses rather than workers.

The 2015 baseline requires a comparability warning

Census reported 24,331,403 nonemployer establishments in 2015 and 30,427,808 in 2023 (https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2018/nonemployer-taxi.html, https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2026/05/small-business-week.html).

The arithmetic difference between the published endpoint counts is approximately 25.1 percent. Census states that the 2022 NES release introduced significant methodological improvements affecting historical comparability, so the percentage is not a clean like-for-like growth rate (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/data/datasets.html).

Transportation and warehousing in 2015

Transportation and Warehousing reached approximately 1.5 million nonemployer establishments in 2015. The sector added 277,383 establishments from 2014, a 22.2 percent increase (https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2017/cb17-84-transit-ground-transportation.html).

Within that sector, Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation increased from 362,445 establishments in 2014 to 577,809 in 2015, a 59.4 percent increase. Census identifies rideshare, taxi, limousine, chartered bus, school bus, and special-needs transportation among the subsector examples.

These are establishment counts for 2014 and 2015. They do not establish the number of workers using app platforms and should not be projected through 2023.

54.6 million actual Forms 1099-NEC in calendar year 2024

IRS Publication 6961, Rev. September 2025, reports 54,619,668 actual Form 1099-NEC documents for calendar year 2024. The same table reports 4,637,956,645 total actual information and withholding documents for calendar year 2024 (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p6961.pdf).

The grand total contains many document types, including Forms W-2, numerous Forms 1099, Schedules K-1, Form 1096, and other information and withholding records. Neither figure is a count of unique workers or payees.

One payee can receive multiple Forms 1099-NEC from different payers. A person who performs paid work can also be absent from the Form 1099-NEC count when the payment relationship does not trigger that form.

Payment year affects which ordinary service payments trigger Form 1099-NEC

For ordinary nonemployee service compensation:

• Payments made in 2025 use the $600 reporting framework under the Rev. April 2025 instructions (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/i1099mec--2025.pdf).
• Payments made in 2026 use the $2,000 reporting framework under the Rev. December 2026 instructions and Public Law 119-21 section 70433 (https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1099mec, https://www.congress.gov/119/plaws/publ21/PLAW-119publ21.pdf).

The $2,000 figure does not apply universally to every information-return category.

Payments made with a credit card, payment card, or through applicable third-party payment networks are reported by the payment settlement entity on Form 1099-K and are not reported by the payer on Form 1099-NEC or Form 1099-MISC (https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1099mec).

All else equal, the higher 2026 ordinary-service threshold narrows the set of payments that trigger a form solely by amount. The available evidence does not support a numerical forecast of future Form 1099-NEC volume.