Last updated: 11 October 2026 Which states have the most self-employed people and small firms in securities and commodities? We put three official datasets side by side for NAICS 523 (securities, commodity contracts and related activities): the Census Nonemployer Statistics for 2024, County Business Patterns for 2023 and BLS wages for securities and financial services sales agents in May 2025. This is an industry code, not a count of prop traders.
The US had 356,318 nonemployer establishments in securities, commodity contracts and related activities (NAICS 523) in 2024, up 5.7% from 337,209 in 2023. A nonemployer is a business with no paid employees, mostly self-employed people. They reported $54.4 billion in receipts.
Four states hold more than 40% of them. Texas 40,126, California 39,271, Florida 36,029, New York 35,644, Illinois 13,579. The top four (Texas, California, Florida, New York) hold 42% of the national count (2024).
Per resident, the ranking changes. The highest nonemployer rates per 100,000 residents are Delaware (374), Wyoming (339), Connecticut (199), New York (179), Colorado (156). The national rate is 105.
Employer jobs and pay look different. The employer side (County Business Patterns 2023) counts 113,885 establishments with 1,042,226 employees and $271.5 billion in payroll, an average of $260,466 per employee. For the narrow occupation of securities, commodities and financial services sales agents (SOC 41-3031), BLS reports 489,570 jobs nationally in May 2025 with a median wage of $78,660 and a mean of $109,150. Highest state medians: New York $168,340, Massachusetts $100,310, Illinois $99,840.
What NAICS 523 is, and what it isn’t
NAICS 523 is the Census Bureau’s industry code for securities, commodity contracts and other financial investments and related activities. It includes securities brokers and dealers, investment banking, commodity contract dealers and brokers, exchanges, and portfolio managers and advisors. It is not a count of prop traders, funded traders or prop firms. Nobody publishes one. Self-employed traders may be filed here or in another industry, and many people who trade for a prop firm are not employees or businesses in any Census dataset.
The 51 states and DC, side by side
| State | Nonemployer est. 2024 | Per 100k residents | Avg receipts / nonemployer | Employer est. 2023 | Employer jobs 2023 | Avg pay / employee | OEWS 41-3031 median wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 40,126 | 128 | $124,813 | 9,871 | 76,364 | $209,454 | $78,470 |
| California | 39,271 | 100 | $153,528 | 13,852 | 113,195 | $297,155 | $79,730 |
| Florida | 36,029 | 154 | $154,784 | 8,818 | 59,979 | $213,224 | $62,770 |
| New York | 35,644 | 179 | $164,207 | 7,483 | 192,522 | $453,040 | $168,340 |
| Illinois | 13,579 | 107 | $151,666 | 5,099 | 61,151 | $302,948 | $99,840 |
| New Jersey | 11,962 | 126 | $203,734 | 3,061 | 45,194 | $205,981 | $82,420 |
| Pennsylvania | 11,264 | 86 | $192,026 | 3,976 | 61,450 | $159,779 | $71,840 |
| Massachusetts | 9,797 | 137 | $172,057 | 2,862 | 52,238 | $296,703 | $100,310 |
| Georgia | 9,308 | 83 | $115,706 | 3,141 | 20,030 | $195,060 | $59,990 |
| Colorado | 9,295 | 156 | $137,595 | 3,171 | 19,051 | $192,327 | $67,010 |
| Ohio | 8,945 | 75 | $145,231 | 3,609 | 20,939 | $167,998 | $73,300 |
| North Carolina | 8,026 | 73 | $135,428 | 3,523 | 24,103 | $180,123 | $74,040 |
| Michigan | 7,880 | 78 | $159,507 | 2,885 | 14,942 | $155,622 | $73,480 |
| Connecticut | 7,314 | 199 | $177,340 | 1,887 | 19,847 | $430,596 | $98,560 |
| Arizona | 7,005 | 92 | $144,616 | 2,493 | 16,774 | $128,096 | $74,840 |
| Virginia | 6,570 | 75 | $154,824 | 2,527 | 15,131 | $205,979 | $62,910 |
| Washington | 5,913 | 74 | $144,214 | 2,774 | 16,775 | $196,158 | $75,510 |
| Maryland | 5,905 | 94 | $154,826 | 1,799 | 20,587 | $203,133 | $61,660 |
| Minnesota | 5,615 | 97 | $194,895 | 2,676 | 21,011 | $191,007 | $83,350 |
| Tennessee | 5,505 | 76 | $156,512 | 1,637 | 12,332 | $181,774 | $58,050 |
| Utah | 5,223 | 149 | $120,446 | 1,400 | 13,494 | $117,417 | $64,660 |
| Missouri | 4,707 | 75 | $159,373 | 2,177 | 16,912 | $142,562 | $78,500 |
| Nevada | 4,611 | 141 | $219,408 | 1,241 | 4,343 | $159,540 | $61,490 |
| Wisconsin | 4,391 | 74 | $167,022 | 2,108 | 13,042 | $170,554 | $74,010 |
| Indiana | 4,222 | 61 | $170,393 | 1,946 | 9,966 | $139,287 | $68,290 |
| Delaware | 3,939 | 374 | $156,656 | 689 | 5,566 | $152,135 | $83,750 |
| South Carolina | 3,882 | 71 | $121,283 | 1,434 | 7,364 | $144,305 | $55,390 |
| Louisiana | 3,436 | 75 | $153,240 | 1,186 | 4,759 | $143,825 | $48,040 |
| Oklahoma | 3,268 | 80 | $112,920 | 1,271 | 4,572 | $128,398 | $76,080 |
| Alabama | 2,888 | 56 | $125,606 | 892 | 4,152 | $161,243 | $49,230 |
| Kansas | 2,872 | 97 | $148,371 | 1,319 | 8,201 | $140,205 | $75,810 |
| Oregon | 2,656 | 62 | $156,846 | 1,546 | 6,568 | $153,752 | $76,710 |
| Iowa | 2,521 | 78 | $154,188 | 1,235 | 6,337 | $117,870 | $64,290 |
| Kentucky | 2,325 | 51 | $126,309 | 991 | 9,694 | $114,943 | $59,110 |
| Wyoming | 1,992 | 339 | $110,936 | 346 | 769 | $151,601 | — |
| Nebraska | 1,941 | 97 | $168,904 | 890 | 6,965 | $119,648 | $82,560 |
| Arkansas | 1,871 | 61 | $114,544 | 714 | 3,002 | $181,488 | $54,660 |
| Idaho | 1,687 | 84 | $115,791 | 670 | 1,937 | $130,550 | $64,620 |
| Mississippi | 1,474 | 50 | $115,693 | 457 | 1,404 | $115,682 | $46,680 |
| New Hampshire | 1,469 | 104 | $198,131 | 547 | 7,594 | $154,349 | $78,930 |
| South Dakota | 1,326 | 143 | $137,364 | 406 | 1,483 | $124,512 | $86,780 |
| New Mexico | 1,226 | 58 | $125,483 | 410 | 3,016 | $126,546 | $60,850 |
| District of Columbia | 1,056 | 150 | $168,075 | 362 | 5,125 | $304,492 | $72,010 |
| Hawaii | 1,006 | 70 | $130,621 | 285 | 1,081 | $151,720 | $57,590 |
| Montana | 975 | 86 | $120,961 | 449 | 1,519 | $156,697 | — |
| North Dakota | 954 | 120 | $248,472 | 349 | 1,133 | $116,285 | $63,670 |
| Rhode Island | 906 | 81 | $155,422 | 376 | 4,137 | $185,909 | — |
| Maine | 817 | 58 | $146,350 | 379 | 1,850 | $155,678 | $59,970 |
| Alaska | 770 | 104 | $57,201 | 186 | 715 | $139,806 | $76,360 |
| West Virginia | 482 | 27 | $119,371 | 252 | 861 | $140,618 | $50,050 |
| Vermont | 472 | 73 | $153,564 | 228 | 1,050 | $176,189 | $88,280 |
Sorted by nonemployer establishments. Nonemployer receipts are in the CSV in thousands of dollars. Employer and wage columns describe the whole industry, not individual traders.
Sources
- Census Nonemployer Statistics, 2024 (and 2023) — API
api.census.gov/data/2024/nonemp, NAICS2022 = 523, variables NESTAB and NRCPTOT. - Census County Business Patterns, 2023 — API
api.census.gov/data/2023/cbp, NAICS2017 = 523, variables ESTAB, EMP and PAYANN. The 2024 edition was not yet available from the API on 11 October 2026. - BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 — BLS API v2, SOC 41-3031, all industries, series OEUS<state>…413031 with datatypes 01 (employment), 04 (annual mean wage), 13 (annual median wage).
- Census ACS 1-year 2024 — table B01003 total population, used for per-100,000 rates.
Method
We pulled every state-level row from the four APIs on 11 October 2026 and joined them on the state FIPS code. Per-100,000 rates divide 2024 nonemployer establishments by 2024 ACS 1-year population. Average receipts divide 2024 nonemployer receipts by establishments. Average pay divides 2023 annual payroll by 2023 employment. Dollar columns in the Census tables are in thousands in the CSV and converted on the page.
The datasets use different years (2024 nonemployer, 2023 employer, May 2025 wages) because that is what each agency has published. We did not adjust or project any of them.
Caveats
NAICS 523 is broad and is not the same as proprietary trading. The OEWS occupation (41-3031, securities, commodities and financial services sales agents) covers brokers and sales agents, not traders. A state ranking here says nothing about where funded traders live or how much they earn.
Census Nonemployer Statistics count business establishments and exclude most agricultural and some other businesses. Receipts are not profit. County Business Patterns suppresses some detail to protect confidentiality. OEWS wages are survey-based estimates; the CSV leaves a cell blank where BLS has no published estimate for a state.
How to cite this
Prop Data Lab, “Where America's Trading Industry Lives (NAICS 523 by State)”, updated 11 October 2026, https://propdatalab.com/trading-industry-by-state/
The table and the CSV are free to reuse under CC BY 4.0: copy, chart or republish them, commercial use included, as long as you link back to this page. The underlying figures are from the US Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics; please also cite them when you reuse those columns.
Common questions
How many self-employed people work in securities and commodities in the US?
The Census Bureau counted 356,318 nonemployer establishments in NAICS 523 (securities, commodity contracts and related activities) in 2024, with $54.4 billion in receipts. That is businesses with no paid employees, not a count of traders.
Which state has the most nonemployer securities and commodities businesses?
Texas had the most in 2024 (40,126), followed by California (39,271) and Florida (36,029). Per resident, the top is Delaware.
Is this a map of prop traders?
No. NAICS 523 covers brokers, dealers, advisors and exchanges as well as self-employed investors. No official dataset counts prop traders or funded traders.
Where do the wage numbers come from?
BLS OEWS, May 2025, for occupation 41-3031 (securities, commodities and financial services sales agents). Nationally the median annual wage was $78,660. It describes sales agents, not traders.