15 Cities With the Most Self-Employed Workers

Editor’s Observe: This story initially appeared on Self.

Previous to the pandemic, self-employment was on the decline and had been falling since 2004. When the financial shutdown occurred within the spring of 2020, nearly 22 million workers misplaced their jobs and the self-employment fee rose to 10.5%.

The next 12 months, employees started quitting their jobs on the highest charges because the Nice Recession, and consequently, the self-employment fee held regular as a few of these employees sought to start out companies.

Whereas some industries and occupations have a lot larger charges of self-employment, all business sectors noticed will increase of their self-employment charges compared with pre-pandemic ranges.

Manufacturing has the smallest self-employment fee, however noticed the most important enhance in whole self-employed employees at 13.3%. Equally, the finance business noticed a 7.0% enhance within the whole variety of self-employed employees.

These business variations in self-employment additionally create regional variations.

To seek out the metropolitan areas with essentially the most self-employed employees, researchers on behalf of Self Monetary analyzed the newest information from the U.S. Census Bureau. Discover particulars on our methodology on the finish.

Listed below are the U.S. metropolitan areas with essentially the most self-employed employees.

15. Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX

• Share of employees who’re self-employed: 10.4%
• Complete self-employed employees: 350,713
• Median revenue for full-time self-employed employees: $50,000
• Median revenue for all full-time employees: $50,000
• Inhabitants: 7,206,841

14. San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX

• Share of employees who’re self-employed: 10.5%
• Complete self-employed employees: 126,262
• Median revenue for full-time self-employed employees: $45,000
• Median revenue for all full-time employees: $45,000
• Inhabitants: 2,601,788

13. Oklahoma Metropolis, OK

• Share of employees who’re self-employed: 10.6%
• Complete self-employed employees: 72,666
• Median revenue for full-time self-employed employees: $40,000
• Median revenue for all full-time employees: $45,000
• Inhabitants: 1,441,647

12. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA

• Share of employees who’re self-employed: 10.6%
• Complete self-employed employees: 323,989
• Median revenue for full-time self-employed employees: $50,000
• Median revenue for all full-time employees: $54,000
• Inhabitants: 6,144,050

11. Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA

• Share of employees who’re self-employed: 10.9%
• Complete self-employed employees: 137,893
• Median revenue for full-time self-employed employees: $59,000
• Median revenue for all full-time employees: $60,000
• Inhabitants: 2,511,612

10. Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO

• Share of employees who’re self-employed: 10.9%
• Complete self-employed employees: 177,204
• Median revenue for full-time self-employed employees: $62,000
• Median revenue for all full-time employees: $60,000
• Inhabitants: 2,972,566

9. San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA

• Share of employees who’re self-employed: 10.9%
• Complete self-employed employees: 256,567
• Median revenue for full-time self-employed employees: $70,000
• Median revenue for all full-time employees: $82,000
• Inhabitants: 4,623,264

8. New Orleans-Metairie, LA

• Share of employees who’re self-employed: 11.0%
• Complete self-employed employees: 62,112
• Median revenue for full-time self-employed employees: $48,000
• Median revenue for all full-time employees: $50,000
• Inhabitants: 1,261,726

7. San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA

• Share of employees who’re self-employed: 11.0%
• Complete self-employed employees: 169,080
• Median revenue for full-time self-employed employees: $52,000
• Median revenue for all full-time employees: $59,000
• Inhabitants: 3,286,069

6. Austin-Spherical Rock-Georgetown, TX

• Share of employees who’re self-employed: 11.2%
• Complete self-employed employees: 142,711
• Median revenue for full-time self-employed employees: $60,000
• Median revenue for all full-time employees: $60,000
• Inhabitants: 2,352,426

5. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL

• Share of employees who’re self-employed: 11.2%
• Complete self-employed employees: 145,480
• Median revenue for full-time self-employed employees: $50,000
• Median revenue for all full-time employees: $45,000
• Inhabitants: 2,691,925

4. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL

• Share of employees who’re self-employed: 11.5%
• Complete self-employed employees: 175,962
• Median revenue for full-time self-employed employees: $50,000
• Median revenue for all full-time employees: $48,000
• Inhabitants: 3,219,514

3. Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN

• Share of employees who’re self-employed: 11.6%
• Complete self-employed employees: 120,898
• Median revenue for full-time self-employed employees: $50,000
• Median revenue for all full-time employees: $50,000
• Inhabitants: 2,012,476

2. Los Angeles-Lengthy Seaside-Anaheim, CA

• Share of employees who’re self-employed: 13.2%
• Complete self-employed employees: 820,969
• Median revenue for full-time self-employed employees: $50,000
• Median revenue for all full-time employees: $53,000
• Inhabitants: 12,997,353

1. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Seaside, FL

• Share of employees who’re self-employed: 15.8%
• Complete self-employed employees: 468,070
• Median revenue for full-time self-employed employees: $40,000
• Median revenue for all full-time employees: $44,200
• Inhabitants: 6,091,747

Methodology

To seek out the metropolitan areas with essentially the most self-employed employees, researchers on behalf of Self Monetary analyzed the newest information from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2021 American Community Survey.

The researchers ranked metro areas in line with the share of employees who’re self-employed. Within the occasion of a tie, the metro with the bigger variety of self-employed employees was ranked larger.

Researchers additionally calculated the median revenue for full-time self-employed employees and the median revenue for all full-time employees utilizing information from 2020, the newest obtainable.

To enhance relevance, solely metropolitan areas with a minimum of 100,000 folks have been included within the evaluation.