Southwest Minnesota is a national leader in agricultural production, and renewable energy.
The region's thriving manufacturing sector includes food processing, machinery, printing, metal products, and computers and electronic products.
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4/23/2025 10:57:58 AM
Amanda Blaschko, Luke Greiner
As detailed in a recent article in Minnesota Economic Trends, census data shows that the number of self-employed workers in Southwest Minnesota surged by nearly 6% from 2020 to 2022, a gain of more than 1,500 new nonemployer establishments. That was more than twice as many as the number of self-employed workers lost during the Pandemic Recession, when Southwest dropped 721 nonemployers from 2019 to 2020. In 2022, there were now just over 27,700 nonemployer establishments in the 23-county region, which was just over 6% of the state total (Table 1).
| Table 1. Minnesota Nonemployer Statistics by Region, 2022 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Area | Number of Nonemployers | Percent of State Total | Change from 2006-2022 | Change from 2019-2020 | Change from 2020-2022 | |||
| Number | Percent | Number | Percent | Number | Percent | |||
| Central | 52,800 | 11.9% | +3,227 | +6.5% | -166 | -0.3% | +3,339 | +6.8% |
| Northeast | 21,331 | 4.8% | -288 | -1.3% | -981 | -4.8% | +1,871 | +9.6% |
| Northwest | 44,632 | 10.1% | +1,775 | +4.1% | -754 | -1.8% | +2,323 | +5.5% |
| Southeast | 34,378 | 7.8% | +2,566 | +8.1% | -881 | -2.7% | +2,507 | +7.9% |
| Southwest | 27,704 | 6.3% | +450 | +1.7% | -721 | -2.7% | +1,507 | +5.8% |
| Twin Cities | 261,500 | 59.1% | +57,751 | +28.3% | -5,146 | -2.1% | +21,367 | +8.9% |
| Minnesota | 442,345 | 100.0% | +65,481 | +17.4% | -8,649 | -2.1% | +32,914 | +8.0% |
| Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics | ||||||||
In order to be considered as a nonemployer establishment, the business must have no paid employees, have annual business receipts of $1,000 or more and be subject to federal income taxes. This broad definition encompasses a diverse spectrum of self-employment activities, ranging from full-time entrepreneurs who rely on their business as their primary source of income to part-time business owners who treat it as a supplementary income stream alongside a traditional job or other revenue sources.
They include the professionals preparing taxes or creating advertising campaigns for local businesses, the independent truck drivers keeping products moving through supply chains, the skilled tradespeople building and finishing homes and the real estate agents selling them. These solo entrepreneurs represent a small part of the region's total workforce, but they are important to long-term economic health and resilience.
Every county saw a rebound in the number of self-employed workers from 2020 to 2022, with the fastest increases seen in Pipestone, Cottonwood, Nicollet, Nobles, Waseca and Blue Earth counties following the pandemic. Just over half the counties in the region saw a gain over the past 10 years, with 12 counties adding nonemployers from 2013 to 2022. The largest and second fastest gain occurred in Blue Earth County, with just over 4,450 self-employed workers in 2022. Rock and Lincoln also saw rapid growth over the decade. In contrast, Watonwan and Faribault saw the fastest declines (Table 2).
| Table 2. Nonemployer Statistics by County, 2013-2022 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| County | 2013 | 2019 | 2020 | 2022 | 2013-2022 | 2019-2020 | 2020-2022 |
| Big Stone Co. | 390 | 408 | 399 | 400 | +2.6% | -2.2% | +0.3% |
| Blue Earth Co. | 4,060 | 4,237 | 4,123 | 4,452 | +9.7% | -2.7% | +8.0% |
| Brown Co. | 1,780 | 1,687 | 1,660 | 1,729 | -2.9% | -1.6% | +4.2% |
| Chippewa Co. | 862 | 827 | 796 | 797 | -7.5% | -3.7% | +0.1% |
| Cottonwood Co. | 812 | 794 | 719 | 785 | -3.3% | -9.4% | +9.2% |
| Faribault Co. | 1,130 | 995 | 983 | 987 | -12.7% | -1.2% | +0.4% |
| Jackson Co. | 770 | 804 | 775 | 793 | +3.0% | -3.6% | +2.3% |
| Lac qui Parle Co. | 611 | 592 | 567 | 593 | -2.9% | -4.2% | +4.6% |
| Le Sueur Co. | 1,982 | 1,952 | 1,934 | 2,043 | +3.1% | -0.9% | +5.6% |
| Lincoln Co. | 477 | 503 | 485 | 522 | +9.4% | -3.6% | +7.6% |
| Lyon Co. | 1,711 | 1,773 | 1,688 | 1,794 | +4.9% | -4.8% | +6.3% |
| Martin Co. | 1,486 | 1,482 | 1,440 | 1,504 | +1.2% | -2.8% | +4.4% |
| Murray Co. | 731 | 694 | 688 | 712 | -2.6% | -0.9% | +3.5% |
| Nicollet Co. | 2,169 | 2,184 | 2,115 | 2,302 | +6.1% | -3.2% | +8.8% |
| Nobles Co. | 1,284 | 1,195 | 1,156 | 1,258 | -2.0% | -3.3% | +8.8% |
| Pipestone Co. | 757 | 721 | 706 | 772 | +2.0% | -2.1% | +9.3% |
| Redwood Co. | 1,065 | 1,064 | 1,046 | 1,092 | +2.5% | -1.7% | +4.4% |
| Rock Co. | 711 | 758 | 774 | 819 | +15.2% | +2.1% | +5.8% |
| Sibley Co. | 1,062 | 1,051 | 1,047 | 1,125 | +5.9% | -0.4% | +7.4% |
| Swift Co. | 689 | 633 | 622 | 634 | -8.0% | -1.7% | +1.9% |
| Waseca Co. | 1,190 | 1,135 | 1,094 | 1,182 | -0.7% | -3.6% | +8.0% |
| Watonwan Co. | 720 | 609 | 589 | 596 | -17.2% | -3.3% | +1.2% |
| Yellow Medicine Co. | 834 | 820 | 791 | 813 | -2.5% | -3.5% | +2.8% |
| Southwest | 27,283 | 26,918 | 26,197 | 27,704 | +1.5% | -2.7% | +5.8% |
| Source: U.S. Census Bureau Nonemployer Statistics | |||||||
Additional detail on each county's nonemployer establishments can be found in the interactive visualization at the bottom of the article. For example, data for each county includes a breakdown by industry, changes over different years and a map showing Location Quotients.
Contact Amanda Blaschko at amanda.blaschko@state.mn.us or Luke Greiner at luke.greiner@state.mn.us.
