Freelancer Statistics (2026)

A data analysis of U.S. contingent work, independent contractors, nonemployer firms and small-business credit conditions, as of October 2026.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics Contingent Worker Supplement for July 2023 counted 6.9 million contingent workers (4.3 percent of employment) and 11.9 million independent contractors (7.4 percent). The Federal Reserve’s 2026 Chartbook on Nonemployer Firms and 2026 Report on Employer Firms from the Small Business Credit Survey add how solo and small firms finance themselves, face higher costs and adopt AI. The numbers below are for people and firms that invoice, contract or run without a large payroll — the same audience shopping accounting tools.

Key takeaways

• 11.9 million people were independent contractors in July 2023 (7.4 percent of employment) (BLS)
• 6.9 million workers held contingent jobs (4.3 percent of employment), up from 3.8 percent in May 2017 (BLS)
• Ages 16 to 24 had a 12.9 percent contingent rate, versus 3.1 percent for ages 25 to 54 (BLS)
• Nonemployer firms are less likely to be profitable than employer firms, but more optimistic on future revenue (Fed SBCS)
• 64% of nonemployers used owners’ personal funds for financial challenges, versus 54% of employers (Fed SBCS)
• Revenue expectations index fell from 39 to 33; employment expectations from 26 to 23 (Fed SBCS)
• Forty-two percent of financing applicants got the full amount; 22% got none (Fed SBCS)
• 46% of employer firms already use AI; 71% of AI users reported increased productivity (Fed SBCS)

How many people freelance or contract in the U.S.?

BLS measures contingent work and alternative arrangements separately. Independent contractors are the largest alternative arrangement; contingent jobs can overlap but are defined by temporary expected duration.

1. 11.9 million people were independent contractors on their sole or main job in July 2023 (BLS).
2. Independent contractors were 7.4 percent of total employment (BLS).
3. 6.9 million workers held contingent jobs on their sole or main job (BLS).
4. Contingent work was 4.3 percent of employment in July 2023 (BLS).
5. The contingent rate was 3.8 percent when the prior comparable survey ran in May 2017 (BLS).
6. 2.8 million people were on-call workers (1.7 percent of employment) (BLS).
7. 945,000 were temporary help agency workers (0.6 percent) (BLS).
8. 862,000 were provided by contract firms (0.5 percent) (BLS).

What it means: contracting is a large, durable slice of U.S. work. Product and marketing teams selling to freelancers should treat independent contractors as a primary segment, not a niche.

Who is most likely to hold contingent work?

9. Workers ages 16 to 24 had a 12.9 percent contingent rate (BLS).
10. Ages 25 to 54 sat at 3.1 percent (BLS).
11. Age 55 and older sat at 2.6 percent (BLS).
12. Men were at 4.3 percent and women at 4.2 percent (BLS).
13. White workers were at 4.1 percent and Black workers at 3.9 percent (BLS).
14. Asian workers were at 5.9 percent and Hispanic or Latino workers at 6.0 percent (BLS).
15. People enrolled in school (ages 16 to 54) had a 15.5 percent contingent rate versus 4.0 percent for those not enrolled (BLS).
16. Workers with less than a high school diploma (age 25+) had a 7.1 percent contingent rate (BLS).

What it means: contingent work skews younger and toward people still in school. Billing and payroll tools aimed at students and early-career freelancers match that distribution.

How do nonemployer firms compare with employer firms?

The Fed defines nonemployer firms as those with no employees except the business owner(s) in its 2026 nonemployer chartbook.

17. Nonemployer firms are less likely to be profitable than employer firm counterparts (Fed SBCS).
18. Nearly a third of nonemployer firms planned to add employees in the next 12 months (Fed SBCS).
19. About half of nonemployer firms had no debt at the time of the 2025 survey (Fed SBCS).
20. 31 percent of nonemployers said they did not regularly use external financing (Fed SBCS).
21. 64% of nonemployers relied on owners’ personal funds to address financial challenges (Fed SBCS).
22. 54% of employer firms did the same (Fed SBCS).

What it means: solo operators lean on personal cash more than employer firms. Invoicing, expense tracking and owner-draw clarity matter as much as bank loans.

What is the credit and cost climate for small firms?

23. The SBCS samples firms with fewer than 500 employees (Fed SBCS).
24. Those firms were 99.7% of U.S. employer establishments in 2023 (Fed SBCS).
25. The revenue expectations index fell from 39 to 33 (Fed SBCS).
26. The employment expectations index fell from 26 to 23 (Fed SBCS).
27. Seventy-seven percent of firms reported rising costs of goods/services/wages and/or tariff-related cost challenges (Fed SBCS).
28. Tariff-related cost challenges hit 69% of retail and 62% of manufacturing firms (Fed SBCS).
29. Forty-eight percent of firms sourced at least some inputs from outside the United States in 2024 (Fed SBCS).
30. 14% sourced more than half of their inputs abroad (Fed SBCS).
31. Seventy-six percent of firms with foreign inputs passed at least some higher costs to customers (Fed SBCS).
32. 60% absorbed at least some of those cost increases (Fed SBCS).
33. Only 13% switched to domestic suppliers and 8% to different foreign suppliers; 3% relocated production to the United States (Fed SBCS).

How do small firms borrow?

34. Firms with no outstanding debt were 31%, up from 21% in the 2020 survey (Fed SBCS).
35. Of firms with debt, 59% used a personal guarantee and 51% used business assets (Fed SBCS).
36. Eighty-six percent of firms use financing on a regular basis (Fed SBCS).
37. Sixty percent applied for financing in the prior 12 months (Fed SBCS).
38. 56% sought financing to meet operating expenses and 46% to pursue expansion (Fed SBCS).
39. Forty-two percent of applicants received the full amount; 36% received some or most; 22% received none (Fed SBCS).
40. Thirty-eight percent applied for a loan, line of credit or merchant cash advance (Fed SBCS).
41. Online fintech lender use among those applicants rose from 17% in the 2020 survey to 29% in the 2025 survey (Fed SBCS).
42. Small-bank applicants were fully approved 57% of the time (Fed SBCS).
43. Sixty percent of online-lender borrowers said actual borrowing costs were higher than expected; 4% said lower (Fed SBCS).

What it means: cash-flow tools and clear invoice aging help when full financing is not guaranteed. Online credit is growing but often costs more than expected.

Are freelancers and small firms using AI?

44. 46% of firms said the business or employees currently use AI; another 15% planned to start within 12 months (Fed SBCS).
45. One-third of firms have no plans to use AI; overall 33% have no adoption plans (Fed SBCS).
46. Among AI users, 44% had partially integrated AI and 7% had fully integrated it (Fed SBCS).
47. Top AI tasks: writing or marketing 83%, individual productivity 61%, planning or analysis 51% (Fed SBCS).
48. 71% of AI users reported increased productivity; 39% improved quality; 31% higher sales (Fed SBCS).
49. Top AI-user challenges: accuracy 46% and adapting tools 43% (Fed SBCS).

What it means: AI is already common for writing and productivity among small firms, but full integration is rare. Tool pages that show concrete workflows beat vague “AI-powered” claims.

What should freelancers and solo firms do with this?

Use a password manager before you reuse client-portal logins. Keep invoicing and books in tools you can export — see accounting software statistics and the accounting category. If you sell to this audience, lead with free plans and personal-fund cash-flow reality, not only bank-loan messaging.

How we compiled these statistics

We built a provenance ledger with 77 data points in docs/content/stats-ledgers/freelancer-statistics.json. Every percentage and million-scale figure in the numbered stats and takeaways above appears in a ledger quote from a page fetched on October 12, 2026: the BLS Contingent Worker Supplement news release, the Federal Reserve SBCS hub, the 2026 nonemployer chartbook and the 2026 employer firms report. We cut secondhand market estimates that we could not retrieve from those primary pages today.