Mobile businesses operate across changing locations, from independent service providers to firms using contract workers and mobile technology. Because mobile business is not a single standardized Census category, the statistics below use direct small-business evidence alongside broader U.S. nonemployer and employer-firm measures, with each population and period identified.
Key Mobile Business Statistics
The most useful mobile business statistics include:
- In 2022, 29.8 million U.S. nonemployer businesses generated $1.7 trillion in receipts.
- In 2023, nonemployers represented 79% of U.S. small businesses in the Federal Reserve chartbook’s Census-based comparison.
- The 2025 Small Business Credit Survey included 11,552 U.S. small-firm responses.
- In 2022, women owned 42.7%, or 12.7 million, of U.S. nonemployer businesses.
- In 2022, Hispanic-owned nonemployers numbered 5.1 million, or 17.2% of the U.S. nonemployer total.
- In the prior 12 months before the 2025 survey, 38% of nonemployer firms used contract workers.
- Through the end of 2024, 47% of U.S. employer firms reported being profitable.
- Through the end of 2024, 34% of U.S. employer firms reported breaking even.
- In the 2025 survey, 36% of employer firms expected revenue to increase over the next 12 months.
- In the prior 12 months before the 2025 survey, 77% of employer firms reported one or both rising-cost challenges.
- In the prior 12 months before the 2025 survey, 60% of employer firms applied for financing.
- Among financing applicants, 42% of employer firms received the full amount sought.
- At the time of the 2025 survey, 46% of employer firms used AI.
- Among employer-firm AI users, 83% used AI for writing or marketing tasks.
- Among employer-firm AI users, 71% reported increased productivity from AI use.
- Among employer firms planning AI adoption, 54% cited finding tools that meet business needs as a challenge.
Contents
- Mobile business market scale and the nonemployer base
- Mobile business ownership and demographic data
- Mobile business models, work arrangements and reach
- Mobile business revenue, profitability and growth trends
- Mobile business costs, challenges and financing
- Mobile business technology, AI and expansion
Mobile Business Market Scale and the Nonemployer Base
The Census Bureau’s 2022 Nonemployer Statistics by Demographics (NES-D) counted U.S. businesses without paid employees and with at least $1,000 in annual receipts, or $1 for construction. It reported 29.8 million nonemployer businesses and $1.7 trillion in receipts in 2022 (Census Bureau).
These figures establish the scale of the owner-operated base in which many mobile businesses may sit, but they are not a direct count of mobile-location businesses. The Federal Reserve’s 2026 chartbook estimated that nonemployers represented 79% of small businesses in its 2023 Census-based comparison (Federal Reserve, 2026 Chartbook).
| Measure | Result | Population and period |
|---|---|---|
| Nonemployer businesses | 29.8 million | United States, 2022 |
| Nonemployer receipts | $1.7 trillion | United States, 2022 |
| Nonemployer share of small businesses | 79% | United States, 2023 estimate |
| Nonemployer firms in Census working-paper comparison | About 27 million | United States, 2020 |
| Employer firms in same comparison | About 6 million | United States, 2020 |
The Census working paper also framed nonemployers as accounting for less than 4% of business receipts in its 1996–2020 discussion. These are broad nonemployer measures, not mobile-specific outcomes (Census CES working paper).
The 2025 Small Business Credit Survey (SBCS) included 11,552 small-firm responses, including 5,027 nonemployer and 6,525 employer responses. The survey covered firms with fewer than 500 employees, and the results are from a nationwide convenience sample rather than a random sample (Federal Reserve, 2026 Chartbook).
Mobile Business Ownership and Demographic Data
Owner demographics show who participates in the broad U.S. nonemployer economy that includes many location-flexible and owner-operated models. The 2022 NES-D figures are administrative-record-based estimates and do not identify whether a business operates from a vehicle, customer site, temporary location or fixed premises.
- Women owned 42.7%, or 12.7 million, of nonemployer businesses in 2022, with $411.6 billion in receipts.
- Veteran-owned firms represented 4.6%, or 1.4 million, of nonemployer businesses in 2022, with $67.7 billion in receipts.
- White-owned firms represented 73.3%, or 21.9 million, of nonemployers in 2022, with $1.3 trillion in receipts.
- Black or African American-owned firms represented 14.9%, or 4.4 million, of nonemployers in 2022, with $130.9 billion in receipts.
- Asian-owned firms represented 9.3%, or 2.8 million, of nonemployers in 2022, with $163.1 billion in receipts.
- American Indian or Alaska Native-owned firms represented 1.2%, or 361,000, of nonemployers in 2022, with $14.0 billion in receipts.
- Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander-owned firms represented 0.3%, or 101,000, of nonemployers in 2022, with $4.2 billion in receipts.
- Hispanic-owned firms represented 17.2%, or 5.1 million, of nonemployers in 2022, with $235.7 billion in receipts.
Race and ethnicity categories can overlap, and all of these figures describe nonemployer businesses rather than mobile operations alone (Census Bureau).
Across employer and nonemployer businesses combined, the Census Bureau counted 35.7 million businesses and $51.7 trillion in receipts in 2022. Women owned 14.0 million of the combined businesses with $2.5 trillion in receipts, while veterans owned 1.7 million with $952.2 billion in receipts; the combined universe is broader than mobile businesses (Census Bureau).
Mobile Business Models, Work Arrangements and Operating Reach
Mobile operations can be owner-only, use contractors, or combine on-location work with a broader small-firm structure. The available survey evidence measures these arrangements separately; contract work should not be treated as identical to mobile work.
In the 2025 SBCS, 38% of nonemployer firms used contract workers during the prior 12 months. The result is self-reported, comes from the convenience sample, and indicates a work arrangement rather than a mobile-business classification (Federal Reserve, 2026 Chartbook).
The survey included firms across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Geographic coverage is broad, but it does not make the convenience sample nationally representative by itself (Federal Reserve, 2026 Report on Employer Firms).
For scale context, the 2025 SBCS defined its small-business population as firms with fewer than 500 employees, including nonemployers with no paid employees except the owner or owners. That definition captures the staffing structure of many independent mobile operators but does not reveal their operating radius, number of locations or vehicle fleet.
Mobile Business Revenue, Profitability and Growth Trends
Employer-firm results provide a benchmark for operating performance, although employer and nonemployer businesses differ. Through the end of 2024, 47% of employer firms reported profitability and 34% reported breaking even in the 2025 SBCS; these are survey responses, not audited financial statements (Federal Reserve, 2026 Report on Employer Firms).
The revenue expectations results show a cautious outlook:
- 36% of employer firms expected revenue to increase in the next 12 months after the 2025 survey.
- 51% expected no revenue change over that period.
- 13% expected revenue to decrease.
- The employer-firm revenue expectations index fell from 39 to 33 points between the 2024 and 2025 surveys.
The index is the share expecting growth minus the share expecting reduction, so it is not a revenue growth rate. The percentages are expectations rather than realized results (Federal Reserve, 2026 Report on Employer Firms).
Employment expectations were similarly measured as an index and outlook:
- 23% expected employment to increase in the next 12 months.
- 56% expected employment not to change.
- 21% expected employment to decrease.
- The employment expectations index fell from 26 to 23 points between the 2024 and 2025 surveys.
A Census working paper estimated that nonemployer businesses that became employers accounted for 3%–17% of net jobs created by all firms born in 1996 by the cohort’s seventh year. It also estimated that employment creation by nonemployer migrants declined 54% across startup cohorts born from 1996 through 2014; these are cohort estimates, not mobile-business forecasts (Census CES working paper).
Mobile Business Costs, Challenges and Financing
Operating a mobile business can expose a firm to equipment, travel, labor and service costs, but the SBCS reports broader employer-firm cost pressures rather than a mobile-only cost schedule. In the prior 12 months before the 2025 survey, 77% of employer firms reported one or both rising-cost challenges, covering rising costs of goods, services or wages and tariff-related costs; questionnaire changes limit historical comparability (Federal Reserve, 2026 Report on Employer Firms).
Financing was common among employer firms, but outcomes were mixed:
| Financing measure | Result | Population and period |
|---|---|---|
| Applied for financing | 60% | Employer firms, prior 12 months before 2025 survey |
| Applied for operating expenses | 56% | Financing applicants, same period |
| Applied to expand, pursue an opportunity or acquire assets | 46% | Financing applicants, same period |
| Received the full amount sought | 42% | Financing applicants, same period |
| Received some or most sought | 36% | Financing applicants, same period |
| Received none sought | 22% | Financing applicants, same period |
Applicants could report multiple reasons for seeking financing, and the financing category included loans, lines of credit, merchant cash advances and other products. The percentages describe applicants rather than all firms and are self-reported (Federal Reserve, 2026 Report on Employer Firms).
Mobile Business Technology, AI and Future Expansion
Technology can support scheduling, marketing, analysis and productivity across changing work locations. In the optional AI module of the 2025 SBCS, 46% of employer firms used AI, while 15% were not using it but planned to do so within the next 12 months; about 81% of employer respondents answered the module (Federal Reserve, 2026 Report on Employer Firms).
Among employer-firm AI users, adoption maturity was distributed as follows:
- 49% were experimenting with AI.
- 44% were partially integrated.
- 7% were fully integrated.
Among the same AI-using firms, 21% said AI was very important to core production, 42% said it was somewhat important and 37% said it was not important. These are respondent classifications, not independently measured productivity or revenue effects.
AI use cases and reported outcomes included:
- 83% used AI for writing or marketing, 61% for individual productivity and 51% for planning or analysis.
- 71% reported increased productivity, 39% improved quality and 31% higher sales from AI use.
- Accuracy was a challenge for 46%, while adapting tools to business needs challenged 43%.
- Among firms planning AI adoption, 54% cited finding tools that meet business needs and 37% cited implementation or employee-training time as challenges.
The task and outcome percentages allow multiple responses, so they are not mutually exclusive and should not be added together. Reported associations are not causal estimates, and the optional AI module does not measure mobile businesses separately (Federal Reserve, 2026 Report on Employer Firms).