Gig Economy statistics
65 statistics · 21 primary sources · data as of November 2026
Every figure below links to the institution that published it. Each was opened and checked by a human editor.
Section 01
20% of U.S. adults performed gig activities in the month before the October 2024 SHED survey
Federal Reserve (SHED) · 2024 · 2024 Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking, fielded October 2024, 12,000+ adults; gig activities include selling items, renting property, and short-term tasks. · source
Gig activity breakdown 2024: 13% of adults sold things, 9% did short-term tasks, 4% did platform tasks arranged via app or website
Federal Reserve (SHED) · 2024 · SHED 2024 Table 4; short-term task results based on half of respondents asked the new Contingent Worker Supplement-based question sequence. · source
64 million Americans performed freelance work in 2023, 38% of the entire U.S. workforce
Upwork (Freelance Forward) · 2023 · Freelance Forward 2023, 10th annual study by Edelman Data & Intelligence, 3,000 U.S. working adults surveyed Oct 24–Nov 9, 2023; workforce base 168M (CPS Oct 2023). · source
60 million Americans (39% of the workforce) freelanced in 2022, up 3 percentage points from 2021
Upwork (Freelance Forward) · 2022 · Freelance Forward 2022, Edelman Data & Intelligence survey of 3,000 U.S. working adults, Sep 21–Oct 7, 2022. · source
28% of U.S. skilled knowledge workers—more than 20 million individuals—freelanced or worked independently in 2024
Upwork Research Institute (Future Workforce Index) · 2024 · Inaugural Future Workforce Index; 3,000 U.S. skilled knowledge workers surveyed Dec 2024–Feb 2025; extrapolated using BLS data on management/professional occupations (42% of workforce). · source
72.9 million Americans worked independently in 2025 per the 15th annual State of Independence study
MBO Partners · 2025 · Annual MBO Partners State of Independence survey fielded April 2025; includes full-time, part-time, and occasional independents. · source
72.7 million independent workers in 2024, essentially flat versus 72.1 million in 2023; full-time independents were 16.7% of the 165M U.S. workforce
MBO Partners · 2024 · 14th annual study, fielded June 2024, 6,575 U.S. residents incl. 1,132 independent workers; occasional independents 36.5M, part-time 8.5M in 2024. · source
4.42% of U.S. adults did online platform work at some point in a 6-month window; 1.6% (2.2% of workers) did it as a primary job
NORC (Entrepreneurship in the Population Survey) · 2022 · Nationally representative EPOP survey; primary job = platform work in the last week as main job; additional 2.85% of adults did platform work periodically over 6 months. · source
Gig economy platforms account for roughly 1–3% of overall employment in OECD countries
OECD · 2019 · OECD Economics Department working paper; labor force survey estimates put platform workers at ~1% in France and the U.S.; growth concentrated in services with high own-account worker shares. · source
Section 02
U.S. freelancers contributed approximately $1.27 trillion in annual earnings to the economy in 2023
Upwork (Freelance Forward) · 2023 · Freelance Forward 2023 estimate; up 78% from the estimated $715 billion in 2014, the first year of the study (increase not inflation-adjusted). · source
Skilled U.S. freelancers earned a collective $1.5 trillion in 2024; those freelancing exclusively reported median income $85,000, above the $80,000 median for full-time employees
Upwork Research Institute (Future Workforce Index) · 2024 · 2025 Future Workforce Index release (Apr 23, 2025) covering 2024 earnings; skilled knowledge workers only. · source
American freelancers contributed approximately $1.35 trillion in annual earnings in 2022, $50 billion more than in 2021
Upwork (Freelance Forward) · 2022 · Freelance Forward 2022 estimate of freelancer annual earnings contribution. · source
A record 5.6 million independent workers earned more than $100,000 in 2025, up 19% from 4.7 million in 2024 and nearly double the 3 million in 2020
MBO Partners · 2025 · State of Independence 2025; $100K+ independents were 1.9 million when the study began in 2011. · source
59% of independent workers say they earn more working independently than in traditional employment
MBO Partners · 2025 · State of Independence 2025 ROI theme; 84% report being happier. · source
Typical annual earnings from platform gig work are small: most participants make less than $2,500 per year
Economic Innovation Group (Garin/Koustas/Jackson IRS-tax-data research) · 2024 · EIG piece summarizing research using IRS tax return data; most participants work intermittently, supplementing a traditional main job. · source
Platform earnings are a primary income source for only about one-fourth (25%) of people who do any platform-based work during the year
Economic Innovation Group (Garin/Koustas/Jackson IRS-tax-data research) · 2024 · Based on IRS administrative data; many primary-earners still work part-time on platforms. · source
Platform gig workers who received an information return reported on average $420 more in self-employment profits
IRS (Garin, Jackson, Koustas, Miller working paper) · 2024 · The Evolution of Platform Gig Work 2012–2024 (June 2026 paper); border-state design comparing 1099-K gap states. · source
Uber drivers and couriers earned a record aggregate $17.9 billion including tips in Q2 2024, up 19% year over year
Uber (Q2 2024 earnings release) · 2024 · Aggregate driver and courier earnings = fares net of Uber service fee, taxes, tolls, plus tips, incentives and benefits; global figure. · source
Uber driver and courier earnings reached $18.1 billion in Q3 2024, up 14% YoY, on 2.9 billion trips
Uber (Q3 2024 earnings release) · 2024 · SEC-filed earnings press release; trips grew 17% YoY to 2.9 billion (~31M trips/day). · source
More than 7 million U.S. Dashers earned over $16 billion on DoorDash in 2024; the average Dasher spent less than 4 hours per week on delivery
DoorDash (2024 U.S. Economic Impact Report) · 2024 · DoorDash-commissioned Public First report with Quadrant Strategies surveys; U.S. figures. · source
DoorDash generated over $18 billion in Dasher earnings globally in 2024, with 8 million people dashing
DoorDash (FY2024 shareholder letter / annual report) · 2024 · SEC-filed annual report; covers 30+ countries. Separate from the U.S.-only $16B figure. · source
Uber drivers' average weekly gross earnings fell 3.4% in 2024 to $513, while weekly hours rose 0.8% (Gridwise data)
Gridwise (via Los Angeles Times) · 2024 · Gridwise analysis of driver earnings; includes total working time between rides. Uber disputes methodology, citing >$30/hour while on a trip. Secondary source (media citing vendor report). · source
U.S. couriers made $1.3 billion on the Uber Eats platform in 2024
Uber (2025 Uber Merchant Impact Report) · 2024 · Uber Eats U.S. courier earnings in 2024; report also estimates $9.4B in incremental U.S. merchant revenue. · source
Section 03
4% of U.S. adults did platform tasks—short-term tasks arranged through an app or website such as a ride-sharing or delivery app—in 2024
Federal Reserve (SHED) · 2024 · SHED 2024 Table 4; platform tasks are a subset of the 9% who did any short-term tasks. · source
42% of independent workers rely on digital platforms as their primary way to find work
MBO Partners · 2025 · State of Independence 2025; online platforms/talent marketplaces as primary client-sourcing channel. · source
11.5 million U.S. independent professionals provide services to businesses via online talent platforms, up 55% since 2020
MBO Partners · 2025 · Independent consultants, contractors, SOW professionals, freelancers serving businesses on a contingent basis. · source
Workers providing services through online intermediaries such as Uber or TaskRabbit accounted for only 0.5% of all workers in 2015
Katz & Krueger (NBER) · 2015 · RAND American Life Panel replication of the BLS Contingent Worker Survey, late 2015; platform-mediated work was still nascent. · source
The rise in platform gig work since 2014 was driven entirely by driving-based platforms (ridesharing and delivery); non-driving platform work remains extremely rare
Economic Innovation Group (Garin/Koustas/Jackson IRS-tax-data research) · 2024 · IRS tax-return data; number of workers with payments from online gig economy apps rose dramatically beginning in 2014. · source
In NORC's EPOP survey, 59.8% of online platform workers doing selling/renting activity were female, vs 51.4% of those doing services platform work
NORC (EPOP) · 2022 · Gender composition of online platform work by activity type. · source
Gross services volume for AI-related work on Upwork grew 60% year-over-year in 2024, with 12,000+ U.S. AI specialists on the platform
Upwork Research Institute · 2024 · From the Future Workforce Index release; signals AI-related demand on freelance marketplaces. · source
The July 2023 BLS Contingent Work Supplement added an expanded set of questions on digital platform employment (app-based work)
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · 2023 · Platform estimates from the supplement were pending release as of the Nov 2024 news release; microdata to follow after all releases. · source
Section 04
Workers ages 16–24 were four times more likely to hold contingent jobs: contingent rate 12.9% vs 3.1% (ages 25–54) and 2.6% (55+) in July 2023
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · 2023 · BLS 2023 Contingent Work Supplement, sole or main job. · source
Hispanic (6.0%) and Asian (5.9%) workers were more likely to be contingent than White (4.1%) and Black (3.9%) workers in July 2023
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · 2023 · Contingent rates by race/ethnicity, sole or main job; among Hispanic workers men were more likely contingent than women (6.6% vs 5.2%). · source
People enrolled in school were much more likely to be contingent: 15.5% vs 4.0% among people ages 16–54 not enrolled
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · 2023 · Contingent rate on sole or main job by school enrollment; about 1 in 5 contingent workers ages 16–54 were enrolled in school. · source
26% of adults ages 18–29 did gig activities in the prior month, vs 24% (30–44), 21% (45–59) and only 12% of adults 60+
Federal Reserve (SHED) · 2024 · SHED 2024 Table 5 share doing gig activities by age. · source
Hispanic adults were more likely to do gig work than the overall population: 24% vs 20% overall
Federal Reserve (SHED) · 2024 · SHED 2024 Table 5; White 19%, Black 19%, Asian 17%. · source
30% of students did gig activities vs 19% of non-students; parents of children under 13 also over-indexed at 26% vs 19%
Federal Reserve (SHED) · 2024 · SHED 2024 Table 5 by student and parental status. · source
Slightly more than half of employed 18–24-year-olds did independent work, vs 36% of workers overall (McKinsey AOS 2022)
McKinsey (American Opportunity Survey) · 2022 · AOS spring 2022 subset of 1,763 Gen Z respondents; Gen Z also more likely to hold multiple jobs (25% vs 16%). · source
Gen Z now makes up 28% of the independent workforce
MBO Partners · 2025 · State of Independence 2025 demographic shift finding; over half of full-time independents are Gen Z and Millennials. · source
Independent contractors were more likely to be older than traditional workers, and temporary help agency workers more likely to be Black or Hispanic (BLS 2023)
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · 2023 · BLS 2023 CWS Table 5a demographic patterns across the four alternative arrangements. · source
Section 05
Only 19.9% of contingent workers had employer-provided health insurance on their job, vs 51.2% of noncontingent workers (July 2023)
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · 2023 · BLS 2023 CWS Table 10, health insurance in own job by contingent status. · source
74.3% of workers whose sole or main job was contingent had health insurance from any source, vs 84.3% of noncontingent workers
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · 2023 · Any source includes a family member's policy, government programs, or self-purchased plans (BLS Table 10). · source
88% of gig workers had health insurance, but 53% of it came through an employer—another job or a spouse's job—and 51% had a non-gig main job
Federal Reserve (SHED) · 2024 · SHED 2024 Table 7; 30% of gig workers on Medicaid/Medicare. · source
31% of people who did gig activities said that without them they would have trouble making ends meet; the share was 54% for short-term task workers and 61% for platform-task workers
Federal Reserve (SHED) · 2024 · SHED 2024 financial dependence on gig income; 55% agreed gigs gave flexibility, 35% said work-life balance. · source
Only 21% of people who performed gig activities reported gig work as their main job; 96% spent under 35 hours/week and 70% under 5 hours/week on gigs
Federal Reserve (SHED) · 2024 · SHED 2024; underscores gig work as mostly supplemental. · source
44.8% of contingent workers would have preferred a permanent job in July 2023
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · 2023 · BLS 2023 CWS preference data (Table 9); remainder preferred contingent work or had no clear preference. · source
Platform workers are independent contractors: no tax withholding, no minimum wage/overtime/sick-leave protections, and no contributions to state unemployment insurance systems (IRS 2024)
IRS (Garin, Jackson, Koustas, Miller working paper) · 2024 · Legal status of platform gig workers as self-employed independent contractors per the IRS working paper introduction. · source
63% of independents say working independently is fully their choice; 67% feel more secure, and nearly 80% plan to remain independent or grow their business
MBO Partners · 2025 · State of Independence 2025 sentiment findings (self-reported, provider-commissioned survey). · source
Gig workers doing platform tasks were financially worse off than non-gig workers: 55% said they were doing okay or living comfortably vs 75%, and 42% had 3 months of emergency savings vs 56%
Federal Reserve (SHED) · 2024 · SHED 2024 Table 7 economic outcomes by gig activity type. · source
Section 06
The U.S. contingent rate rose from 3.8% in May 2017 to 4.3% in July 2023
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · 2023 · Comparison across the two most recent Contingent Worker Supplements (2017 and 2023). · source
Independent contractors as a share of total employment: 6.7% (1995), 6.9% (2017), 7.4% (2023)—a 30-year high matching 2005
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · 2023 · BLS blog series table of CWS results 1995–2023 for alternative work arrangements. · source
Workers in alternative work arrangements rose from 10.7% (Feb 2005) to 15.8% (late 2015), with all net employment growth 2005–2015 occurring in alternative arrangements
Katz & Krueger (NBER) · 2015 · RAND-CWS replication of the BLS survey; contract-company workers showed the largest rise (1.4% → 3.1%). · source
The independent workforce nearly doubled from 38.2 million (2020) to 72.9 million (2025)
MBO Partners · 2025 · MBO State of Independence 15-year tracking series (2024 report gives 72.1M for 2023 and 72.7M for 2024). · source
Freelancing share rose from 34% of workers in 2014 to 38% in 2023 (Freelance Forward series)
Upwork (Freelance Forward) · 2023 · Series per gigeconomydata.org (Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta gig data hub) summary of Freelance Forward; modest growth over the decade. · source
Freelancer earnings contribution grew 78% from $715 billion (2014) to $1.27 trillion (2023), not inflation-adjusted
Upwork (Freelance Forward) · 2023 · Freelance Forward 2023 press release comparison to the first study year. · source
Workers receiving platform gig information returns grew to over 2 million by 2018 and at least 5 million by 2021; raw counts underestimate platform work by ~770,000 due to the 1099-K gap
IRS (Garin, Jackson, Koustas, Miller working paper) · 2021 · Tax-data series 2012–2024; 1099-K threshold rise to $20,000 in 2017 created reporting gap. · source
The broader 1099 contract economy (platform gig work plus other contract work) was 10.8% of the workforce in 2018 and 10.5% in 2021—declining slightly, unlike platform gig work which kept growing
IRS (Garin, Jackson, Koustas, Miller working paper) · 2021 · Share of workforce with 1099-MISC/NEC or platform 1099-K income per IRS tax data. · source
The number of independent content creators jumped 13% in 2025 to 10.1 million after a 2023 plateau
MBO Partners · 2025 · State of Independence 2025 creator-economy segment; younger workers lead, older 'granfluencers' gaining. · source
$100K+ independents grew from 1.9 million (2011) to 5.6 million (2025), roughly tripling over the study's 15 years
MBO Partners · 2025 · State of Independence 2025 high-earner trend, driven by peak-earning Millennials staying independent. · source
Statista projection cited by Upwork: 86.5 million people will be freelancing in the U.S. by 2027, 50.9% of the total U.S. workforce
Statista (cited by Upwork) · 2025 · Secondary source: Upwork stats page citing Statista (Nov 28, 2025) forecast; projection, not observed data. · source
Share of workers with reported self-employment earnings in the CPS has hovered at 7–8% since 1995
Economic Innovation Group (Garin) · 2024 · EIG summary of administrative/survey evidence: traditional self-employment flat while platform-mediated work grew on top. · source
statfern. "Gig Economy Statistics 2026." Published 2026-11-13. https://statfern.com/gig-economy-statistics/
The primary sources behind this report. We link to the page where each figure appears.
| 01 | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | July 2023 Contingent Worker Supplement to the CPS; released Nov 8, 2024. Contingent jobs are those people do not expect to last or that are temporary. | View source → |
| 02 | McKinsey (American Opportunity Survey) | Ipsos online poll of 25,062 adults, Mar 15–Apr 18, 2022; counts anyone identifying as contract, freelance, temporary, or gig worker. | View source → |
| 03 | Federal Reserve (SHED) | 2024 Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking, fielded October 2024, 12,000+ adults; gig activities include selling items, renting property, and short-term tasks. | View source → |
| 04 | Upwork (Freelance Forward) | Freelance Forward 2023, 10th annual study by Edelman Data & Intelligence, 3,000 U.S. working adults surveyed Oct 24–Nov 9, 2023; workforce base 168M (CPS Oct 2023). | View source → |
| 05 | Upwork Research Institute (Future Workforce Index) | Inaugural Future Workforce Index; 3,000 U.S. skilled knowledge workers surveyed Dec 2024–Feb 2025; extrapolated using BLS data on management/professional occupations (42% of workforce). | View source → |
| 06 | MBO Partners | Annual MBO Partners State of Independence survey fielded April 2025; includes full-time, part-time, and occasional independents. | View source → |
| 07 | NORC (Entrepreneurship in the Population Survey) | Nationally representative EPOP survey; primary job = platform work in the last week as main job; additional 2.85% of adults did platform work periodically over 6 months. | View source → |
| 08 | OECD | OECD Economics Department working paper; labor force survey estimates put platform workers at ~1% in France and the U.S.; growth concentrated in services with high own-account worker shares. | View source → |
| 09 | Economic Innovation Group (Garin/Koustas/Jackson IRS-tax-data research) | EIG piece summarizing research using IRS tax return data; most participants work intermittently, supplementing a traditional main job. | View source → |
| 10 | IRS (Garin, Jackson, Koustas, Miller working paper) | The Evolution of Platform Gig Work 2012–2024 (June 2026 paper); border-state design comparing 1099-K gap states. | View source → |
| 11 | Uber (Q2 2024 earnings release) | Aggregate driver and courier earnings = fares net of Uber service fee, taxes, tolls, plus tips, incentives and benefits; global figure. | View source → |
| 12 | Uber (Q3 2024 earnings release) | SEC-filed earnings press release; trips grew 17% YoY to 2.9 billion (~31M trips/day). | View source → |
| 13 | DoorDash (2024 U.S. Economic Impact Report) | DoorDash-commissioned Public First report with Quadrant Strategies surveys; U.S. figures. | View source → |
| 14 | DoorDash (FY2024 shareholder letter / annual report) | SEC-filed annual report; covers 30+ countries. Separate from the U.S.-only $16B figure. | View source → |
| 15 | Gridwise (via Los Angeles Times) | Gridwise analysis of driver earnings; includes total working time between rides. Uber disputes methodology, citing >$30/hour while on a trip. Secondary source (media citing vendor report). | View source → |
| 16 | Uber (2025 Uber Merchant Impact Report) | Uber Eats U.S. courier earnings in 2024; report also estimates $9.4B in incremental U.S. merchant revenue. | View source → |
| 17 | Katz & Krueger (NBER) | RAND American Life Panel replication of the BLS Contingent Worker Survey, late 2015; platform-mediated work was still nascent. | View source → |
| 18 | NORC (EPOP) | Gender composition of online platform work by activity type. | View source → |
| 19 | Upwork Research Institute | From the Future Workforce Index release; signals AI-related demand on freelance marketplaces. | View source → |
| 20 | Statista (cited by Upwork) | Secondary source: Upwork stats page citing Statista (Nov 28, 2025) forecast; projection, not observed data. | View source → |
| 21 | Economic Innovation Group (Garin) | EIG summary of administrative/survey evidence: traditional self-employment flat while platform-mediated work grew on top. | View source → |
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