As of late 2025, about 16.6 million Americans were self-employed in their primary job, and by broader measures that count freelancers and side-earners, roughly 72.9 million people did some form of independent work. Self-employment sits near one in ten U.S. workers by the government's narrow count, and much higher once part-time and occasional independent work is included. Below are the current, sourced figures for 2026 - every number links to where it came from.
How many Americans are self-employed in 2026?
About 16.6 million Americans are self-employed as of December 2025, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data compiled in the Federal Reserve's FRED database. That total splits into roughly 9.7 million unincorporated self-employed workers and about 6.9 million incorporated business owners. In the BLS's narrowest headline measure, only the unincorporated group is counted as self-employed, because owners of incorporated businesses are technically paid employees of their own corporation.
By this measure, self-employment is close to 10 percent of all employed Americans - a share that has held remarkably steady for decades. Roughly one in ten U.S. workers has been self-employed since the 1970s, so the story is less a sudden surge than a large, durable slice of the workforce that runs its own show.
How many people do independent work in the U.S.?
Once you widen the lens beyond primary-job self-employment, the numbers grow dramatically. MBO Partners, in its 2025 State of Independence report, counted 72.9 million American independent workers in 2025, up from 72.7 million in 2024. Of those, about 27.6 million work independently full-time, while the rest do so part-time or occasionally alongside other work.
Freelancing platforms tell a similar story. Upwork has estimated that around 76.4 million Americans freelanced, roughly 38 percent of the workforce, and that skilled independent knowledge workers generated about 1.5 trillion dollars in annual earnings. The gap between the government's 16.6 million and these larger figures is mostly definitional: the broad numbers include the millions who freelance or run a side business on top of a traditional job.
Is self-employment growing, and who is driving it?
Independent work is growing, and the fastest growth is at the top of the earnings scale. MBO Partners found that a record 5.6 million independent workers earned more than 100,000 dollars a year in 2025, up from 4.7 million in 2024 - roughly a 19 percent jump in a single year, and nearly double the number of six-figure independents recorded in 2020.
Younger workers are a major engine of the trend. Gen Z made up about 28 percent of the independent workforce in 2025, up from 21 percent the year before, according to MBO Partners. Upwork has projected that the U.S. freelance workforce could reach roughly 86.5 million people by 2027 - approaching half of all American workers - if current growth continues.
What does this mean for funding a self-employed business?
For self-employed and independent owners, the practical challenge is that traditional funding often leans on W-2 pay stubs and multi-year tax returns that do not fit how independents actually earn. That is why revenue-based funding is such a natural fit: instead of judging you on a salary you do not have, it reads the deposits in your business bank account to see real, current cash flow.
Because The Broker Shop is a broker, not a funder, one application lets us match a self-employed owner to the funding options and the funders whose guidelines you meet - including funders comfortable with 1099 and independent income. If you run your own business, see how a business loan for a 1099 contractor works, then apply in about two minutes to compare your strongest offers. Checking your options won't affect your credit score.
See what you qualify for
One 2-minute application is matched to the funders whose guidelines you meet. It's free, and checking your options won't affect your credit score.
See What I Qualify For →The bottom line: Self-employment is a large, durable, and growing part of the U.S. workforce - and because revenue-based funding reads business bank deposits rather than a salary, one application can match an independent owner to the funders whose guidelines they meet.
Sources: BLS / FRED - Unincorporated Self-Employed (LNS12032192) · BLS - Employed persons by class of worker (Table A-7) · Carry - How Many Americans Are Self-Employed (CPS/FRED figures) · MBO Partners - 2025 State of Independence · Upwork - Freelancing Stats: Market Size and Trends · Upwork Inc. - 1 in 4 U.S. Knowledge Workers Now Work Independently