Creative freelance work is a substantial part of the U.S. labor market, but official statistics define it in more than one way. In July 2023, 11.904 million U.S. workers were independent contractors on their sole or main job, or 7.4% of total employment. The category includes independent contractors, consultants, and freelance workers, so it is broader than creative freelancing alone. Within the arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations, the independent-contractor rate was much higher: 28.1%.
Contents
- How official statistics define freelance work
- Creative occupations and independent contracting
- Who is most likely to freelance
- Full-time, part-time, and second-job patterns
- Earnings, insurance, and preferences
- The UK creative-industry context
How official statistics define freelance work
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) uses “independent contractor” as an employment-arrangement category. In its July 2023 Current Population Survey supplement for employed people age 16 and over, the category covered 11.904 million workers, or 7.4% of total U.S. employment. The independent-contractor share was 6.9% in May 2017, providing an earlier comparison point. These figures describe a worker’s sole or main job unless a second job is identified separately.
The BLS category should not be treated as a count of people working only in creative fields. It includes consultants and freelance workers across occupations. It is also distinct from contingent work. In July 2023, contingent jobs covered 6.899 million workers, or 4.3% of employment. Of the 11.904 million independent contractors, 483,000 were also contingent on that same job. That means 9.8% of independent contractors were in both categories.
Other alternative arrangements were measured separately. The BLS counted 2.771 million on-call workers, 945,000 temporary-help-agency workers, and 862,000 contract-firm workers in July 2023. Independent contracting was therefore one part of a broader set of nontraditional work arrangements.
Most independent contractors were self-employed: 84.6% in July 2023. Only 4.1% were also contingent on that same job. This distinction matters for creative workers because a person may identify as a freelancer while official statistics classify the work according to employment arrangement, occupation, and whether it is a main or additional job.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Contingent and Alternative Employment Arrangements, July 2023.
Creative occupations and independent contracting
The arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupation group had the highest independent-contractor rate among the major occupation groups shown in the July 2023 BLS table. Its rate was 28.1%, compared with 19.7% in personal care and service occupations, 15.1% in construction and extraction, and 13.2% in building and grounds cleaning and maintenance.
The creative group contained 3.563 million workers, including 1.001 million independent contractors. Traditional arrangements accounted for 2.441 million workers, or 68.5% of the group. The same occupation group represented 8.4% of the occupational distribution of independent contractors, while it represented 2.2% of all employed workers. This shows why creative freelancing can be especially visible within the occupation even though the national independent-contractor total includes many other fields.
The group also included 89,000 on-call workers, 25,000 temporary-help-agency workers, and 14,000 workers supplied by contract firms. As shares of those alternative-work groups, arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media accounted for 3.2% of on-call workers, 2.7% of temporary-help-agency workers, and 1.7% of contract-firm workers.
Selected creative occupations also show high self-employment rates. The BLS counted 89,300 special-effects artists and animators in 2022, with 58% self-employed. It counted 27,800 set and exhibit designers, with 59% self-employed; 135,100 art directors, with 58% self-employed; and 29,100 fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators, with 59% self-employed.
| Occupation | 2022 employment | Self-employed | Projected growth, 2022–2032 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Special-effects artists and animators | 89,300 | 58% | 8% |
| Set and exhibit designers | 27,800 | 59% | 7% |
| Art directors | 135,100 | 58% | 6% |
| Fine artists | 29,100 | 59% | 5% |
The growth figures are occupation-wide projections, not forecasts limited to freelancers. They indicate projected employment change for all workers in each occupation between 2022 and 2032. Source: BLS Career Outlook, Fast-growing occupations with high rates of self-employment.
Who is most likely to freelance
Age is one of the clearest differences in the July 2023 U.S. data. Workers age 55 and over had an 11.5% independent-contractor rate. The rate was 6.9% for workers ages 25–54 and 2.2% for workers ages 16–24. Older workers also made up 36% of all independent contractors, compared with about 22% of workers in traditional arrangements.
Sex differences were also present. Men had an 8.7% independent-contractor rate, compared with 5.8% for women. The BLS data do not explain the reasons for the difference, so the figures describe participation rates rather than causes.
The reported rates varied by race and ethnicity: 7.9% for White workers, 7.4% for Hispanic or Latino workers, and 5.4% for both Black workers and Asian workers. These are U.S. independent-contractor rates for July 2023 and should not be read as rates for creative occupations specifically.
Education differences were relatively narrow at the upper end. For people age 25 and over, the independent-contractor rate was 10.6% for those with less than a high-school diploma, 7.9% for high-school graduates with no college, 8.3% for people with some college or an associate degree, and 7.9% for people with a bachelor’s degree or higher.
School enrollment was associated with a lower rate among workers ages 16–54. Independent contractors made up 2.7% of workers enrolled in school, compared with 6.4% of those not enrolled. That pattern may be relevant to emerging creative workers balancing education and paid projects, but the BLS figures themselves do not identify a causal explanation.
Full-time, part-time, and second-job patterns
Independent contracting is not synonymous with part-time work. In July 2023, 70.7% of U.S. independent contractors were full-time workers when all jobs were combined, while 29.3% were part-time. Looking specifically at the sole or main job, 68.3% usually worked full time, 31.0% worked part time, and 0.7% had hours varying across the full-time threshold. Among workers in traditional arrangements, 84.0% usually worked full time on their sole or main job.
Independent contractors made up 13.1% of part-time U.S. workers and 6.2% of full-time workers. The difference suggests that creative freelance work can be a primary working arrangement while also appearing frequently alongside other employment.
Second jobs show a different structure. In July 2023, 1.916 million multiple jobholders had an independent-contractor second job, representing 22.8% of multiple jobholders. Independent contractors accounted for 59.9% of self-employed workers’ second jobs, based on 1.592 million independent-contractor second jobs among 2.660 million self-employed second-job workers.
Among people with an independent-contractor second job, 88.3% were full-time workers when all jobs were combined and 11.7% were part-time. Yet only 4.5% usually worked full time in that second job, while 81.0% usually worked part time. The comparable full-time share for traditional-arrangement second jobs was 6.6%.
The independent-contractor share of second jobs increased with age: 9.8% for multiple jobholders ages 16–24, 23.8% for ages 25–54, and 28.4% for those age 55 and over. Among multiple jobholders ages 16–54, 21.4% had an independent-contractor second job. The rate was 12.2% for those enrolled in school and 22.5% for those not enrolled.
Earnings, insurance, and preferences
For full-time U.S. workers in July 2023, median weekly earnings were $949 for independent contractors and $1,132 for workers in traditional arrangements. The earnings figures are medians, so they describe the midpoint of each group rather than a typical project fee or hourly freelance rate.
Within full-time independent contracting, median weekly earnings were $1,004 for men and $857 for women. The reported medians by race and ethnicity were $961 for White workers, $835 for Black workers, $764 for Asian workers, and $768 for Hispanic or Latino workers.
Health-insurance coverage also differed by arrangement. In July 2023, 74.2% of independent contractors had health insurance from any source, compared with 84.9% of workers in traditional arrangements. Employer-provided insurance covered 54.4% of workers in traditional arrangements. The BLS did not publish an employer-insurance estimate for independent contractors because most were self-employed.
Preference data show that independence is not necessarily unwanted. Among independent contractors, 80.3% preferred their current arrangement, 8.3% preferred a different arrangement, 8.9% said their preference depended on circumstances, and 2.5% had no available response. Among all contingent workers, by contrast, 40.8% preferred contingent employment and 44.8% preferred a different arrangement.
For another comparison, full-time contingent workers had median weekly earnings of $838 in July 2023, equal to 74% of the $1,137 median for full-time noncontingent workers. Contingent status and independent-contractor status are separate concepts, so these figures should not be combined into a single freelance earnings estimate.
The UK creative-industry context
UK creative-industry statistics provide a different perspective. The UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport estimated 2.419 million filled jobs in the creative industries during January–December 2023. That was an increase of 23,000 jobs, or 0.9%, from 2022, and 318,000 jobs, or 15.1%, above the 2019 level.
These are filled jobs in creative-industry sectors, not a direct count of self-employed people or freelancers. They therefore provide labor-market context rather than a like-for-like comparison with the U.S. independent-contractor measure.
In 2023, women held 37.9% of UK creative-industry filled jobs, compared with 47.9% across the UK workforce overall. Disabled people held 14.7% of creative-industry filled jobs, compared with 17.0% across the UK workforce overall. The creative-industry workforce was 83.6% White, 8.7% Asian or Asian British, 2.7% Black, African, Caribbean or Black British, 2.8% from other ethnic groups, and 2.3% mixed or multiple ethnic groups.
Regional concentration was especially visible in the 2024 figures. London contained 30.4% of UK creative-industry filled jobs in January–December 2024, while the South East contained 16.4%. Across the included UK DCMS sectors, 24.4% of filled jobs were in London, compared with 15.9% of all UK-economy filled jobs.
Between 2019 and 2024, filled jobs in the included UK DCMS sectors grew 26.0% in the South East and 17.0% in the North West. These were the only statistically significant regional increases reported in that comparison. Sources: UK DCMS, Employment in the DCMS sectors, January–December 2023 and UK DCMS, Employment, January–December 2024.