U.S. manufacturers with no paid staff rose 6% from 2022 to 2024

Census data show U.S. manufacturing businesses with no paid employees climbed to 421,812 in 2024, a 6.0% increase from 2022. The new Built for Production report ties that growth to machine-shop declines, stronger machinery orders, tighter labor markets and higher utility costs for three-phase power.

Why it matters: - The closest available measure of home and hobby shops suggests more people are running manufacturing businesses on their own. - Power access remains a cost barrier for small shops that need 3 phase equipment. - Labor and equipment data point to continued demand for machinists, machines and electrical upgrades.

What happened: - U.S. manufacturing businesses with no paid employees reached 421,812 in 2024, up 6.0% from 397,797 in 2022. - The figures appear in The State of the American Home Shop 2026, a new report from Built for Production. - The report combines Census data, machine-market data and a review of utility price sheets for 3 phase line. - Census data released Sept. 29, 2026, provided the nonemployer counts used in the report.

The details: - Census does not count home or hobby shops directly. - Census nonemployer counts are the closest available proxy for manufacturing businesses with no paid staff. - Nonemployers across all industries grew 7.3% over the same two-year period, slightly faster than manufacturing. - Census County Business Patterns shows machine shops with fewer than 5 employees fell 12.8%, from 9,030 in 2012 to 7,877 in 2023. - The report treats the nonemployer and machine-shop figures as separate findings because they measure different things over different years. - U.S. orders for new metalworking machinery reached $4.76 billion from January through August 2026, up 36.9% from the same months of 2025, according to AMT, the Association For Manufacturing Technology. - The machinery data cover new industrial machines, not the used machines most home shops buy. - The BLS producer price index for metal cutting machine tools rose 3.5% in the year to September 2026, preliminary data show. - U.S. manufacturers had 522,000 open jobs in August 2026, up from 416,000 a year earlier, according to preliminary BLS data. - Factory employment rose 0.3% in the year to September 2026. - BLS expects about 30,400 openings a year for machinists and tool and die makers through 2035, mostly from retirements and job changes. - Built for Production reviewed line extension price sheets from 35 utilities in 23 states in October 2026. - A line extension is the new line a utility runs to bring service to a building. - Of the 13 utilities that print per-foot prices for both single-phase and 3 phase line, 12 charge more for 3 phase. - For overhead line, the median per-foot gap was 36%. - The other 22 utilities price line extensions by the job or use another method. - Pioneer Electric Cooperative in Kansas charges no line cost for the first quarter mile of single-phase line, but charges for 3 phase line from the first foot. - Pioneer Electric Cooperative's overhead rate is $9.50 per foot, which puts a quarter mile of 3 phase line at $12,540. - Colorado Springs Utilities' 2026 standards set a 3 phase service threshold of 25 horsepower of connected 3 phase load or more than 40 kW of total load. - Colorado Springs Utilities says a smaller customer may pay the extra cost or add an add-a-phase, roto-phase or similar device to obtain 3 phase service at the customer's expense. - Built for Production sells phase converters and VFDs that run on single-phase power and make 3 phase power for shop machines. - A licensed electrician installs the equipment and checks whether the building's electrical service can carry the load. - The Census Bureau does not recommend reading nonemployer data as a time series and changed its methods in 2018 and 2022. - The report therefore shows only 2022 to 2024 and treats the change as a direction rather than an exact rate. - The full utility table, with a source link for each utility, is available on request.

Between the lines: - The report points to a growing base of very small manufacturing businesses even as traditional small machine shops have shrunk over a longer period. - The utility review suggests 3 phase power can materially increase startup and expansion costs for smaller shops. - The mix of rising machinery demand, open jobs and utility pricing reinforces the economics behind single-owner and home-shop operations. - Built for Production is positioning itself around that gap by selling equipment that helps small shops run 3 phase machines on single phase service.

What's next: - Built for Production says its free sizing calculator applies makers' published sizing rules to a buyer's machine. - The company plans to continue serving home shops, small fabrication shops and farm shops that run 3 phase machines on single phase power. - The report's utility table is available on request for readers who want the underlying pricing data.

The bottom line: - More U.S. manufacturing businesses are operating without paid staff, but power access and equipment costs still shape how small shops start and grow.