Number of Freelancers (2024)

Freelancing has grown enormously in recent years.

From the pandemic to the creator economy to new technologies, more and more people are working for themselves than ever before.

We’ll dive deeper into just how many people freelance in 2024 below.

Contents

• Top Freelancer Stats
• How Many Freelancers Are There In the US?
• How Many Freelancers Are There Worldwide?
• Freelancing in Other Regions
• Who is Freelancing in 2023?
• Top Reasons for Freelancing

Top Freelancer Stats (Editor’s Choice)

Before we dive in, here are the top 5 freelance statistics for 2024:

• There are nearly 75 million freelancers in the US
• Around 9 in 20 workers are self-employed
• Niger is the country with the highest proportion of self-employment (95.1%)
• The arts & design industry has the highest self-employment rate (77%)
• Gen Z is the generation most likely to freelance

How Many Freelancers Are There In the US?

As of 2024, there are an estimated 76.4 million freelancers in the United States.

This figure has grown year-over-year by at least 2 million since 2017. And by 2028, the latest data suggests there will be over 90 million US freelancers.

This is how the US gig economy is expected to progress over the next few years:

Approximately 59 million (36% of the US workforce) are classified as independent workers.

Here’s the distribution of the US workforce according to a 2022 survey:

Sources: Edelman, Bureau of Labor Statistics 

How Many Freelancers Are There Worldwide?

Approximately 1.57 billion people are self-employed around the globe.

That figure accounts for nearly half (46.6%) of the global workforce.

Source: World Bank

Freelancing in Other Regions

According to recent data, Niger has the highest recorded proportion of freelance workers (95.1%).

Here are the top 10 countries ranked by proportion of self-employment:

Each of the top 10 nations by the proportion of freelance workers is located in Africa. In fact, only two of the top 25 countries are not African:

• 11th - North Korea (87.2% self-employed)
• 18th - Afghanistan (82.2% self-employed)

Below are the highest-ranked nations by proportion of self-employment for selected regions:

On the other end of the spectrum, the lowest-ranked nations by self-employment proportion are as follows:

Focusing on income, low-income countries have an average self-employment rate of 80%. By contrast, high-income countries have an average self-employment rate of just 12.4%.

Here’s a breakdown of how national income affects the self-employment rate:

Source: World Bank

Who is Freelancing in 2023?

Industry

The arts & design industry has the highest proportion of freelance workers in the US - around 3 in 4 are self-employed.

In contrast, just 19% of office workers and administrative support employees are freelancers.

This is how American industries compare in terms of freelance employment: 

Age

According to 2020 data, there is a direct correlation between age and freelancing.

Half of all US Gen Zers (18 to 22-year-olds) participate in freelance work. That figure steadily drops off with each older generation and sits at 26% for baby boomers (55+ years old).

Here’s the full picture:

Another recent survey corroborated these findings.

When asked about earning money via freelancing, the youngest age group (18-29 year-olds) topped each of the following:

• Share of respondents currently freelancing (9%)
• Share of respondents who freelanced in the past 12 months, but not currently (13%)
• Share of respondents who freelanced 12+ months ago (9%)

Here’s the full breakdown:

Race

Statistically, Hispanic people are more than 4x more likely to be currently freelancing. If you’re Hispanic, you are also approximately twice as likely to freelance than if you’re Black or Asian. 

Here’s a look at the proportion of freelancers by race in the US:

Gender

Differences in the likelihood of freelancing are far less pronounced between genders compared to age or race:

Education

Over half of post-graduates in the US (51%) do freelance work - an increase of 6% over 2019’s figures. That’s at least 16% higher than any other education level.

By comparison, just 31% of Americans without an education level higher than high school work as freelancers.

Here’s how education affects the likelihood of freelancing:

Sources: Upwork, Pew Research Center

Top Reasons for Freelancing

More than half of US freelancers (56%) agree the leading reason for taking work on a gig platform is to save up extra money.

This is followed by needing to cover gaps or a change in income (52%).

Here’s a full breakdown of the 2021 survey:

In general, there appears to be a correlation between freelancers and an optimistic outlook.

From a survey of over 25,000 Americans, around 1 in 3 freelancers expect to have more economic opportunities in 12 months' time - that's compared to 1 in 5 of all workers.

Similarly, over 40% of freelancers think that there will be continuous economic growth in five years. By comparison, around one-third of all workers agree.

According to McKinsey, the most common reason for engaging in contract, freelance, or temporary work is out of necessity to support basic family needs.

Here's a breakdown of their findings:

Primary Reason for Independent Work	Proportion of Freelancers Who Agree
A necessity to support basic family need	25.7%
For the autonomy and flexibility it offers	24.9%
Enjoy the work	24.7%
Additional discretionary income	19.5%
Other	5.2%

Source: Pew Research Center, McKinsey

Conclusion

Self-employment has become indispensable to the global workforce - the growing number of freelancers is a testament to this.

And these figures are set to continue to rise over the coming years.

For more content on freelancing and employment, take a look at 7 Remote Work Trends and 57+ Freelance Statistics, Trends and Insights.