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 Union MembersSelf-Employed
Alabama170,000323,000
Alaska62,00051,000
Arizona197,000381,000
Arkansas58,000230,000
California2,273,0002,679,000
Colorado165,000428,000
Connecticut248,000252,000
Delaware43,00052,000
District of Columbia25,00039,000
Florida397,0001,510,000
Georgia179,000701,000
Hawaii139,00092,000
Idaho37,000128,000
Illinois931,000698,000
Indiana334,000428,000
Iowa161,000272,000
Kansas99,000237,000
Kentucky172,000339,000
Louisiana107,000294,000
Maine69,000120,000
Maryland342,000410,000
Massachusetts413,000476,000
Michigan841,000687,000
Minnesota396,000444,000
Mississippi60,000202,000
Missouri284,000470,000
Montana48,000105,000
Nebraska66,000159,000
Nevada167,000166,000
New Hampshire63,000110,000
New Jersey770,000581,000
New Mexico62,000123,000
New York1,981,0001,477,000
North Carolina126,000627,000
North Dakota20,00071,000
Ohio734,000761,000
Oklahoma93,000331,000
Oregon211,000271,000
Pennsylvania745,000782,000
Rhode Island76,00069,000
South Carolina59,000287,000
South Dakota21,00084,000
Tennessee153,000499,000
Texas476,0001,713,000
Utah61,000188,000
Vermont34,00064,000
Virginia140,000511,000
Washington546,000417,000
West Virginia101,000109,000
Wisconsin386,000391,000
Wyoming19,00050,000

The statistics on the number of union members are taken from the U.S. Census Bureau site.

The statistics on the numbers of self-employed are based on the U.S. Census Bureau site. These state-by-state self-employed numbers are compiled from tax returns of businesses that have no employees; consequently, tracking well with the self-employed. However, these census bureau statistics do not include approximately 1.5 million self-employed businesses that have employees (employing over 5.6 million), nor do these statistics include businesses involved in agricultural production; therefore, farmers are not included in these census bureau numbers. Currently, there are about 2,000,000 self-employed farmers in the United States. When statistically significant, I have included farmers in the numbers of self-employed printed here, based on statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. I have not included the 1.5 million self-employed businesses with employees, because a state-by-state breakdown was not available.

More information on the self-employed can be viewed at

Lastly, the numbers of self-employed identified in these state-by-state statistics are based on tax returns. Consequently, many millions of potential self-employed voters are left out of the numbers included here. Most of these missing self-employed fall into the following four categories:

  1. Spouses in self-employed businesses where the husband and wife work together as partners, but only one spouse is listed on tax returns as working in the business—for instance, a family farm where the husband and wife work together, but the wife appears on the tax return only as “housewife”.

  2. Self-employed people who do not file tax returns. Self-employed people who participate in the “black market” economy range from migrant farm workers to musicians. The majority participate in the black market economy because they cannot afford to pay the Self-Employment Tax. A self-employed person who earns only $10,000 is not likely to file a tax return which would require him or her to pay a $1,500 Self-Employment Tax.

  3. Corporations and partnerships that employ 1 to 4 people, and collectively employ several million Americans. Most of the owners of these small firms consider themselves self-employed, and share many of the same problems of the self-employed; high health insurance premiums, lack of access to Small Business Administration Loans, expensive regulatory burdens...

  4. In the opinion of the creator of these pages, the unemployed are self-employed. When a person loses his or her job, it is usually up to that person to make ends meet. This “activity” in securing sustenance can be viewed as self-employment.