There are 29.8 million one-person (nonemployer) businesses in the US, per the Census Bureau's 2022 Nonemployer Statistics, published in May 2025.
One-Person Company Statistics (2026)
There are 29.8 million one-person (nonemployer) businesses in the US, per the Census Bureau's 2022 Nonemployer Statistics, published in May 2025 (US Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics, 2025). Together they generate $1.7 trillion in annual receipts — about 6.8% of the US economy. This page collects the key statistics on the one-person economy: how big it is, who runs it, how it uses AI, what it spends, and how AI is changing hiring. Compare the agent-level picture in our AI agent statistics.
Last updated: 2026-06-12
Benchmark edition — original survey data from the State of the One-Person Company 2026 lands July 2026. Until then, this page benchmarks the best published research, with every population and year stated in the stat itself.
Key takeaways
- 29.8M — There are 29.8 million one-person (nonemployer) businesses in the US, per the Census Bureau's 2022 Nonemployer Statistics, published in May 2025. (US Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics, 2025)
- $1.7T — US one-person (nonemployer) businesses generated $1.7 trillion in combined annual receipts in 2022, about 6.8% of the US economy. (US Census Bureau, America Counts, 2025)
- 5.6M — 5.6 million US full-time independent workers earned $100,000 or more in 2025 — up 19% year over year and roughly double the 2020 count. (MBO Partners, State of Independence, 2025)
- 15.3% — 15.3% of US one-person (nonemployer) firms had paid for AI tools through December 2025 — the closest verified solo-specific adoption figure, measured from real transaction data rather than self-report. (JPMorgan Chase Institute, 2026)
- 37% — 37% of new US business owners said generative AI helped them complete tasks that might otherwise require hiring someone, in a February 2025 survey of 1,011 new business owners. (Gusto New Business Formation Report, 2025)
How big is the one-person economy?
US one-person (nonemployer) businesses generated $1.7 trillion in combined annual receipts in 2022, about 6.8% of the US economy.
The average US one-person business brought in roughly $57,000 in annual receipts in 2022 — a derived figure ($1.7 trillion divided by 29.8 million businesses); the Census Bureau does not publish this average directly.
US nonemployer businesses grew 65% between 2000 and 2019 versus 13% for employer firms, lifting their share of all US firms from 70% to 77%.
Who makes up the independent workforce?
27.6 million Americans worked as full-time independents in 2025, out of 72.9 million US independent workers of all types, per a survey fielded in April 2025.
5.6 million US full-time independent workers earned $100,000 or more in 2025 — up 19% year over year and roughly double the 2020 count.
74% of US solopreneurs reported working more than 40 hours per week in an August 2023 survey of 518 small business owners, whose overall average workweek was 48.5 hours — an older, small-sample data point.
How many small businesses and solos use AI?
58% of US small businesses used generative AI in 2025, up from 40% in 2024 and 23% in 2023.
68% of US small businesses with 100 or fewer employees reported using AI regularly as of April 2025, and 28% use it daily.
23% of US solopreneurs said they use AI or automation in their business, in a June 2025 survey of 1,023 solopreneur insurance customers.
About 90% of respondents in a self-selected online community of 153 solopreneurs reported using AI, surveyed September to November 2025 — a small, AI-aware sample, not a representative population.
Among AI-using US small businesses in 2025, the top AI functions were marketing (43%), customer service (36%), administrative tasks (33%), data processing (32%), and bookkeeping (29%).
58% of AI-using US small businesses reported saving more than 20 hours per month with AI — a per-month figure, not weekly — in a May 2025 survey of 540 businesses.
24% of AI-using US small business owners reported shorter workdays because of AI, and 74% reported a productivity boost, as of April 2025.
82% of US small businesses with $25,000 to $5 million in annual revenue said AI is essential to staying competitive, in a 2025 survey of roughly 1,000 businesses.
What do small businesses actually spend on AI?
17.7% of all US small businesses — and 26.1% of small employers — had paid for AI tools through December 2025, measured from transaction data across 4.6 million business accounts.
15.3% of US one-person (nonemployer) firms had paid for AI tools through December 2025 — the closest verified solo-specific adoption figure, measured from real transaction data rather than self-report.
The median US small business paying for AI spent $28 per month in 2025, down from a roughly $78 peak in 2022, with 63% of payers in the $1 to $40 tier.
Is AI replacing hiring for small businesses?
Freelance-marketplace spending fell from 0.66% to 0.14% of company spend between Q4 2021 and Q3 2025, while AI-provider spending rose from zero to nearly 3% — among Ramp customers, a funded, tech-forward population.
More than half of businesses that used freelance marketplaces in 2022 had stopped entirely by 2025 — among Ramp customers, a funded, tech-forward population.
12% of AI-using service firms in the New York region hired fewer people over the prior six months because of AI, per a Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey fielded in August 2025, and nearly a quarter of firms planning AI use expect fewer hires.
87% of small businesses said AI augments rather than replaces employees, in a January to February 2026 survey of 1,256 Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses participants — a growth-skewed program sample.
37% of new US business owners said generative AI helped them complete tasks that might otherwise require hiring someone, in a February 2025 survey of 1,011 new business owners.
How these statistics are selected and verified
Primary sources only. Every statistic on this page is drawn from the organization that produced the underlying data — Census records, transaction data, or first-party surveys. We do not cite roundups or pages that themselves cite someone else. Where a figure is derived rather than published (like the ~$57,000 average), the sentence says so.
Populations named in the stat. Survey populations differ wildly — Ramp customers skew funded and tech-forward, Goldman Sachs program participants skew growth-oriented, community samples skew AI-aware. Each sentence on this page carries its own population qualifier and year so a quoted stat can never silently overclaim.
Update cadence. This benchmark edition is reviewed when major primary sources publish new data, and it will be superseded by Founderr's original survey, the State of the One-Person Company 2026, in July 2026. The changelog below records every addition, removal, and correction.
Changelog
- 2026-06-12 — Benchmark edition published: 23 statistics compiled from public research on the one-person economy, the independent workforce, SMB/solo AI adoption, AI spend, and AI vs hiring. Source links pending verification. Original survey data from the State of the One-Person Company 2026 lands July 2026.
- 2026-06-12 — All 23 sources verified against the publisher's own pages and URLs filled. Corrections from verification: the 29.8M nonemployer count relabeled as 2022 NES data (2023 NES reports 30.4M); the Thryv 74% over-40-hours figure re-scoped to solopreneurs (owners overall: 86%); the QuickBooks regular-use stat scoped to its US April 2025 figures; the Gusto stat rewritten to the published 37% (generative AI replacing tasks that might otherwise require a hire) — the previously claimed 39% does not appear in the source.
Cite this page
Plain: Founderr. One-Person Company Statistics (2026). founderr.io/one-person-company-statistics. Updated 2026-06-12.
APA: Founderr. (2026, June 12). One-Person Company Statistics (2026). Founderr. https://www.founderr.io/one-person-company-statistics
Frequently asked questions
How many one-person companies are there in the US?
There are 29.8 million one-person (nonemployer) businesses in the US, per the Census Bureau's 2022 Nonemployer Statistics, published in May 2025 (US Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics, 2025). The Census counts every business with no paid employees from IRS records, so the figure spans freelancers, solo founders, and side businesses alike. Every entry on this page states its population and year.
How much revenue do one-person businesses generate?
US one-person (nonemployer) businesses generated $1.7 trillion in combined annual receipts in 2022, about 6.8% of the US economy (US Census Bureau, America Counts, 2025). The roughly $57,000 average shown on this page is a derived figure — total receipts divided by the business count — because the Census Bureau does not publish that average directly.
How many solo businesses actually pay for AI?
15.3% of US one-person (nonemployer) firms had paid for AI tools through December 2025 — the closest verified solo-specific adoption figure, measured from real transaction data rather than self-report (JPMorgan Chase Institute, 2026). Transaction data runs below self-reported survey adoption because it counts paid tools only; free-tier use is higher. The median paying small business spends $28 per month.
Are solo founders replacing hires with AI?
37% of new US business owners said generative AI helped them complete tasks that might otherwise require hiring someone, in a February 2025 survey of 1,011 new business owners (Gusto New Business Formation Report, 2025). Spending data points the same direction: freelance-marketplace spend collapsed while AI-provider spend rose among Ramp customers. Our own survey measures this question directly in July 2026.
Keep reading
- The one-person company — how solo founders run real operations with AI agents.
- AI agent statistics — adoption, industry, and ROI data on AI agents.
- AI employee cost calculator — compare the fully-loaded cost of hiring vs running AI agents.