MAY 25, 2017 — Nonemployer businesses, establishments without paid employees, in the Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation subsector (North American Industry Classification System (NAICS 485) increased by 59.4 percent from 362,445 in 2014 to 577,809 in 2015, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics released today. Receipts in this subsector increased 21.9 percent from $11.7 billion in 2014 to $14.3 billion in 2015.

Examples of the Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation subsector include rideshares, taxi and limousine services, chartered bus, school bus and special needs transportation. The Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation subsector had the largest increase within the Transportation and Warehousing sector (NAICS 48-49).

“The Transportation and Warehousing sector reached 1.5 million nonemployer establishments in 2015 leading all sectors in both rate of change (with a 22.2 percent increase) and number of establishments gained (277,383),” said Jenny Tran, chief of the Business Statistics branch. “By comparison, when looking across all sectors covered, the number of establishments rose by 494,466 or 2.1 percent to 24.3 million from 2014 to 2015.”

Additionally for this sector, the District of Columbia, Rhode Island and Maryland led all states or equivalents in the rate of increase in the number of nonemployer establishments from 2014 to 2015, at 54.1 percent, 43.7 percent and 39.9 percent, respectively. The District of Columbia topped all states or equivalents in the rate of increase in receipts for the Transportation and Warehousing sector at 20.4 percent to $94.2 million, followed by Massachusetts (13.8 percent to $1.1 billion) and Rhode Island (13.5 percent to $126.1 million) in 2015.

The overall rate of increase in nonemployer receipts was 2.9 percent from 2014 to 2015, reaching $1.1 trillion. The Real Estate and Rental and Leasing sector (NAICS 53) led all sectors in total receipts, with $259.8 billion in 2015. Receipts for the Accommodation and Food Services sector (NAICS 72) climbed the fastest, with a growth of 9.0 percent to $17.7 billion in 2015. Receipts per establishment among sole proprietorships rose 1.0 percent from 2014 to 2015, reaching $34,242. Sole proprietorships accounted for 86.4 percent of nonemployer establishments.  

These data are all part of Nonemployer Statistics: 2015, which publishes statistics on businesses in over 450 industries at varying levels of geography, including national, state, county, metropolitan statistical area and combined statistical area. The data are also presented by Legal Form of Organization as filed with the Internal Revenue Service, and by Receipt Size Class.

Florida, Oregon and South Carolina led all states in the rate of increase in the number of nonemployer establishments between 2014 and 2015. Florida jumped 4.7 percent (to 2,040,339), Oregon and South Carolina both increased 3.3 percent (to 278,839 and 329,431, respectively). Receipts grew faster in Oregon (up 5.6 percent to $13.3 billion in 2015) than any other state.

Among the 50 counties with the most nonemployer establishments, three counties in Florida had the largest percent increases: Orange County, Miami-Dade County and Palm Beach County. Growth in the number of nonemployer establishments in these counties registered 6.6 percent (to 125,651), 6.2 percent (to 462,297), and 5.5 percent (to 171,074), respectively, in 2015. In these top three Florida counties, the Transportation and Warehousing sector drove the increase between 2014 and 2015. The growth in the number of nonemployer establishments in this sector for these counties was 35.9 percent (to 10,696), 30.5 percent (to 44,054) and 29.0 percent (to 7,733), respectively.

Among the same 50 counties, Travis County, Texas, led the Transportation and Warehousing sector in annual growth in the number of nonemployer establishments with 80.6 percent in 2015.  In the same sector, California was home to five of the 10 counties with the highest rate of growth in receipts with San Francisco County, Calif., leading with an increase of 26.3 percent to $274.2 million, followed by Santa Clara County, Calif., (23.0 percent to $358.4 million) in 2015.

Other highlights:

• Other Services (NAICS 81) led all sectors in the number of nonemployer establishments, with 3.7 million in 2015. This sector includes such disparate businesses as nail salons, equipment and machinery repairing, promoting or administering religious activities, photographers, temporary parking and dating services.
• Although many sectors experienced growth in nonemployer receipts, Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction (NAICS 21) experienced a decrease in receipts (down 24.3 percent, to $6.1 million in 2015). This sector also experienced a 10.7 percent decrease from 2014 to 2015 in the number of establishments (to 98,134).
• Utilities (NAICS 22) has the fewest number of nonemployer establishments and receipts. It experienced an increase in receipts (1.5 percent, to $980.9 million in 2015), but experienced a 0.1 percent decrease from 2014 to 2015 in the number of establishments (to 19,968).
• The number of nonemployer establishments with receipts over $1 million grew by 5.7 percent (to 38,029) in 2015. The Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services sector (NAICS 54) had the most nonemployer establishments with receipts over $1 million with 9,143 establishments (an increase of 4.9 percent), followed by the Construction sector (NAICS 23) with 3,993 establishments (an increase of 11.2 percent).

• California, Texas and Florida topped all states in the total number of nonemployer establishments (3.2 million, 2.2 million and 2.0 million, respectively) as well as for receipts ($169.4 billion, $108.5 billion and $89.1 billion, respectively).
• Wyoming had fewer establishments (48,140) and lower receipts ($2.3 billion) than any other state.

• Los Angeles County, Calif., topped all counties with more than a million (1,022,938) nonemployer establishments and $54.2 billion in receipts, followed by Cook County, Ill., with an increase to 475,448 establishments (2.4 percent). Cook County, Ill., also had an increase in receipts to $20.6 billion (1.9 percent).
• Among the 50 counties with the most nonemployer establishments, Bronx County, N.Y., had a decrease of 1.2 percent to 114,788 nonemployers in 2015.
• Among the same 50 counties, Orange County, Fla., led in the rate of increase for nonemployer receipts with a growth of 7.6 percent to $5.1 billion in 2015, followed by Miami Dade County, Fla., and Alameda County, Calif., each with 7.0 percent ($19.3 billion and $6.9 billion, respectively).

A nonemployer business is defined as one that has no paid employees, has annual business receipts of $1,000 or more ($1 or more in the construction industries), and is subject to federal income taxes. Most nonemployers are self-employed individuals operating very small unincorporated businesses, which may or may not be the owner’s principal source of income. Nonemployer statistics originate from Internal Revenue Service tax return information. The data are subject to nonsampling error, such as errors of self-classification by industry on tax forms, as well as errors of response, nonreporting and coverage. Receipts totals are slightly modified to protect confidentiality. All dollar values are expressed in current dollars, i.e., they are not adjusted for price changes. Further information about methodology and data limitations is available at <www.census.gov/econ/nonemployer/methodology.htm>.

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