The 2025 State of the Sector of Worker Cooperative and Democratic Workplaces is a report on worker cooperatives and democratic workplaces in the United States. This work is a co-production of the Democracy at Work Institute and the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives. The report draws upon data collected through the Enterprise Census of Worker Cooperatives and Democratic Workplaces, based on data from Fiscal Year 2024. To better capture and illustrate the experience of workers, we also collected qualitative data. The census is the only national, comprehensive opportunity to capture trends across worker cooperatives an democratic workplaces, and is conducted every two years. The State of the Sector Report is one of the best tools we have to show the growth and strength of our movement.
Click here to download the 2025 State of the Sector Report
With over 10 years of longitudinal data, the report shows continued growth in the field. The increase in firms has slowed considerably compared to previous post-pandemic years. Although the report covers experiences in 2024, the impact on businesses in 2025 is already becoming clear- many businesses express concern about the future of their businesses due to the funding losses in the support ecosystem, natural disasters, and other effects on the wider national economy. The sector’s most pressing needs include quality and affordable healthcare, business marketing, and business planning support. Interestingly, the biggest spike in industry growth is business consulting, seeing independent contractors coming together to form their own democratically-run businesses to provide experienced support to the sector. The number of workers employed by these firms is growing quickly due to the development of drivers cooperatives; women and people of color continue to make up the majority of the workforce.
We are grateful to the participating worker cooperatives and democratic businesses for their involvement, as well as our funders and partners that support this work!
