economy_self_employment_county_year
Census Nonemployer Statistics: sole proprietors, gig workers, partnerships (C3). Tier A. History 1997-present at source; currently 2022 only.
overview
All 3,144 counties x 5 years. Census Nonemployer Statistics covers establishments without paid employees.
current vintage — 2023 (released late 2025)
history — NES: 1997 to present
source & licensing
fields
| name | type | definition |
|---|---|---|
| country_idkey | string | ISO alpha-2 country code. Always US. |
| county_idkey | string | 5-character county FIPS code. |
| county_name | string | Human-readable county name. |
| methodology_era | string | pre_2022 for years <=2021; 2022_plus for years >=2022. Do not trend across boundary. |
| nonemployer_establishments | int64 | Count of nonemployer businesses (no paid employees) in the county. |
| nonemployer_receipts_thousands | int64 | Total annual receipts of nonemployer businesses, nominal $1,000s. |
| receipts_per_establishment | float64 | Average receipts per nonemployer establishment ($1,000s). |
| state_idkey | string | 2-character state FIPS code. |
| yearkey | int64 | Reference year of the observation. |
joins
how to use this table
Census draws nonemployer firm counts (no paid employees, >=$1,000 receipts) from IRS Form 1040 Schedule C, 1065 partnership returns, and 1120 corporate returns by county FIPS. nonemployer_share = nonemployer_firms / (nonemployer + employer establishments).
W-2 employment; firms with employees (use CBP); informal/cash economy below $1,000 threshold; comparison with QCEW (different definitions).
$1,000 receipts threshold excludes very-small side income. NAICS classification of nonemployers can be noisy.