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The special tabulations of artists, taken from the 2015-2019 American Community Survey, were prepared by the Bureau of the Census at the request of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). These tables show labor force estimates for detailed artist occupations for the United States as a whole; each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico; and the largest 25 metropolitan areas.

The American Community Survey (ACS) is a nationwide survey designed to provide reliable and timely social, economic, housing, and demographic data every year. It provides estimates on a broad range of population, housing unit, and household characteristics for states, counties, cities, school districts, congressional districts, census tracts, block groups, and many other geographic areas. In 2010, the ACS replaced the census long form as the nation's source of social and economic data for population and housing characteristics.

The Artists Training and Career Project, conducted by the Research Center for Arts and Culture (RCAC), studied the training and career choices and patterns of actors, craftspeople, and painters through national surveys of a sampling of artists in each discipline. Topics include training and preparation for painting and craft careers, acceptance in the marketplace, critical evaluation, public response, involvement in professional organizations, and career satisfaction. As a complement to the surveys, RCAC also conducted personal narrative interviews with artists and related experts. The survey of craftspeople was conducted in 1990 and included 1,257 respondents. The survey of painters was conducted in 1991 and included 889 respondents. As well, the survey of actors was conducted in 1992. Funding for the study was provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA).

Also archived at ICPSR and available for research purposes are 1381 ACTORS' EQUITY surveys (AEA) and 528 non-EQUITY (non-AEA) (total 1909). These surveys are in hard copy, and there may be costs associated with access to these materials. Please contact [email protected] if you are interested in using the data.

Digital data for The Artists Training and Career Project: Actor were not provided for the NADAC or CPANDA version of this data collection.

The Arts and Cultural Production Satellite Account (ACPSA) is produced through the partnership between the United States Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Built with the BEA's input-output (I-O) accounts, the ACPSA provides detailed statistics that illustrate the impact of arts and cultural production on the United States economy. Specifically, this account provides an assessment of the arts and cultural sector's contributions to gross domestic product (GDP).

For years 1998 to 2023, the ACPSA presents annual statistics about the following items: (1) Output of detailed arts and cultural commodities and the industries producing these commodities; (2) employment and compensation within these industries; (3) arts and cultural value added by industry; and (4) commodity-flow details for arts and cultural production products.

**Please note that due to BEA's 2023 comprehensive updates to the national, industry, and state economic accounts, these statistics supersede all prior ACPSA statistics provided previously and should not be combined with previous years of the ACPSA.**

In the data tables provided, the statistics fall under two broad categories: (1) core arts and cultural production and (2) supporting arts and cultural production. The core category contains the commodities in which the output primarily contributes to arts and culture. Performing arts, museums, design services, and arts education are included in the core category. The supporting category consists of commodities that support the core category through publication, dissemination of the creative process, or other supportive functions. This category contains event promotion, printing, and broadcasting.

The seven national-level data tables provided for each year from 1998 to 2023 include:

• Table 1. Production of Commodities by Industry
• Table 2. Output and Value Added by Industry
• Table 3. Supply and Consumption of Commodities
• Table 4. Employment and Compensation of Employees by Industry
• Table 5. Total ACPSA-related Employment by Industry
• Table 6. Output by ACPSA Commodity
• Table 7. Real Output by Commodity

Available through DataArts, the Arts Vibrancy Index (AVI) contains data and findings of the role that arts and culture play in a city's livability and social cohesion. The National Center for Arts Research (NCAR) studies such connections between arts and cultural organizations and their communities. They combine data from nonprofit arts and cultural organizations with data for the communities in which they reside. In linking the data courses, NCAR identifies factors that affect the health and sustainability of arts organizations. NCAR realizes that each of the factors from the ecosystem included in the Arts Vibrancy Index report has an influence on a variety of financial, operating, and attendance outcomes for arts and cultural organizations. The findings are shared regarding the operating and community characteristics that drive performance - and how they affect performance - in the NCAR reports.

The data that NCAR integrates for AVI report typically come from numerous sources. Organizational data that forms the basis of the Arts Dollar measures are from the Internal Revenue Service, DataArts' Cultural Data Profile, and Theatre Communications Group. Community data that forms the basis of the Arts Provider measures are from the Internal Revenue Service and the Census Bureau, which is reported by county, zip code, and census tract. State funding data is from the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies and Federal funding data is from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The AVI reports are used by arts leaders, businesses, government agencies, funders, and engaged citizens to better understand the overall intensity and capacity of the community's arts and culture sector. Communities use the AVI and related data to benchmark themselves against an aspirational set of communities and understand what sets them apart by examining the underlying dimensions of demand, supply, and public support for arts and culture.

The U.S. Census Bureau's Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), a survey that measures business conditions, provides insight into the state of the economy with data for key economic measures every two weeks. The continuous, timely nature of BTOS measures captures the impact of events like natural disasters and economic crises and assists in monitoring recovery efforts.

The BTOS is the successor to the Small Business Pulse Survey (SBPS), a high-frequency survey that measured the effect of changing business conditions during the coronavirus pandemic, and other major events like hurricanes, on our nation's small businesses. BTOS increases the scope of the SBPS to include large single-location employer businesses (those with 500 or more employees).

Released biweekly and available by sector, state, and the 25 most populous metropolitan statistical areas, the BTOS offers real-time data to aid in policy and economic decision-making. BTOS data are representative of all single-location employer businesses in the U.S. economy, excluding farms, and include geographic and subsector detail. The sector and subsector commonly used to study arts-related businesses are Sector 71 (Arts and Entertainment) and Subsector 711 (Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries).

The BTOS sample consists of approximately 1.2 million businesses with biweekly data collection. Selected businesses are split into six panels (approximately 200,000 cases per panel) that will be asked to report every 12 weeks for a year.

The Contingent and Alternative Employment Arrangements supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS) is a monthly sample survey involving about 60,000 households that provides valuable data on (un)employment in the United States. The Contingent and Alternative Employment Arrangements supplement focuses on individuals whose primary jobs are temporary or expected to last only a limited period of time as well as those with alternative employment arrangements (i.e., working as independent contractors, as on-call workers, through temporary help agencies, or through contract firms). Questions were asked about the two types of employment, contingent and alternative, separately as some individuals fell into both categories, some in one but not the other, and some in neither.

This data collection includes variables related to occupation and industry, enabling data users to identify individuals working in arts- and culture-related fields. These occupations fall under categories such as leisure, hospitality, and agriculture, as well as related industries like arts, entertainment, recreation, design, sports, and media. This encompasses professions such as artists, architects, designers, actors, musicians, and writers. Jobs in some of these occupations are especially likely to be categorized as contingent or alternative, so this information is necessary to fully understand the employment experiences of those in art- and culture-related fields.

Before July 2023, data on contingent and alternative employment arrangements were collected periodically from February 1995 to May 2017. The concepts and definitions used in the supplement are detailed in the Technical Note in the BLS news release. For more information, see the FAQs on contingent and alternative employment arrangements.

County Business Patterns (CBP) is an annual series that provides subnational economic data by industry for businesses with paid employees within the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Island Areas (Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) at a detailed geography and industry level. This program is authorized under the United States Code, Titles 13 and 26. This series includes the number of establishments, employment during the week of March 12, first quarter payroll, and annual payroll. Data reported are for activities occurring during the reference year. CBP has been published annually since 1964; similar data were reported for various periods since 1946.

Statistics are available on business establishments at the U.S. level and by State, County, Metropolitan area, ZIP Code, and Congressional District Levels. Data for Puerto Rico and the Island Areas are available at the State and county equivalent levels. CBP covers most NAICS industries excluding crop and animal production; rail transportation; National Postal Service; pension, health, welfare, and vacation funds; trusts, estates, and agency accounts; private households; and public administration. CBP also excludes most establishments reporting government employees. Precautions are taken to avoid disclosing the operations of an individual employer.

Arts, entertainment, and recreation (NAICS Code 71)

• Performing arts, spectator sports, and related industries
• Museums, historical sites, zoos, and parks
• Amusement parks, gambling, and recreation

Professional, scientific, and technical services (NAICS Code 54)

• Architectural services
• Graphic design services
• Photographic services

Retail trade (NAICS Code 44-45)

• Sporting goods, hobby, book, and music stores
• Book, periodical, and music stores
• Art dealers

This data collection is useful for studying the economic activity of small areas; analyzing economic changes over time; and as a benchmark for other statistical series, surveys, and databases between economic censuses. Businesses use the data for analyzing market potential, measuring the effectiveness of sales and advertising programs, setting sales quotas, and developing budgets. Government agencies use the data for administration and planning.

NADAC data users should note that this data collection contains data on arts-related occupations. Please read the summary below for details.

This data collection is comprised of responses from two sets of survey questionnaires, the basic Current Population Survey (CPS) and a survey on the topic of Contingent Employment in the United States, which was administered as a supplement to the February 2017 CPS. In addition to administering the basic CPS, interviewers asked the supplementary questions in three-fourths of the sample households.

The CPS, administered monthly, is a labor force survey providing current estimates of the economic status and activities of the population of the United States, for the week prior to the survey. Specifically, the CPS provides estimates of total employment (both farm and nonfarm), nonfarm self- employed persons, domestics, and unpaid helpers in nonfarm family enterprises, wage and salaried employees, and estimates of total unemployment.

The Contingent Work Supplement questions were asked of all applicable persons age 16 years and older. The supplement data is comprised of information on contingent or temporary work that a person did without expecting continuing employment from the particular employer they happened to be working for. Also included is information about each worker's expectation of continuing employment, satisfaction with their current employment arrangement, current job history, transition into the current employment arrangement, search for other employment, employee benefits, and earnings. The occupation and industry information variables in this data collection can help the data users identify individuals who worked in arts and culture related fields. The occupations are listed in categories like "Architecture and engineering occupations" and "Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations," which include professions such as artists, architects designers, actors, musicians, and writers. Industries related to the arts and culture are in the "Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation" category. The supplement questions were not asked of unpaid family workers and persons not looking for work (this includes persons not in the labor force and unemployed persons on layoff who are not looking for work). Demographic variables include age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, marital status, veteran status, educational attainment, occupation, and income.

The Employment Projections (EP) program offers insights into the labor market of the United States, projecting trends for the next decade across approximately 300 detailed industries and 800 occupations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics develops the National Employment Matrix as part of its ongoing Employment Projections program.

Occupational classifications of the National Employment Matrix are based on the structure used by the Occupational Employment Statistics (OEWS) program, which is using the 2018 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. Self-employed worker data are sourced from the Current Population Survey (CPS) and are distributed to relevant occupations through a crosswalk mechanism. The industrial structure relies on the 2017 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), treating self-employment as a separate industry for analytical purposes. Arts-related occupations encompass various sectors, including motion picture and sound recording industries, broadcasting, performing arts, museums, amusement, publishing, education, design, media, and related fields. This comprehensive overview aids in understanding employment dynamics and trends within the arts and cultural sectors.

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) is a monthly survey conducted in the United States that has been developed to address the need for data on job openings, hires, and separations. The data provided by JOLTS serve as demand-side indicators of labor shortages at the national level. Data from a sample of approximately 16,000 U.S. business establishments are collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics through the Atlanta JOLTS Data Collection Center. The JOLTS survey covers all nonagricultural industries in the public and private sectors for the 50 States and the District of Columbia. JOLTS collects and shares data on Total Employment, Job Openings, Hires, Quits, Layoffs and Discharges, and Other Separations. JOLTS provides data from as far back as December 2000.

The JOLTS database allow users to extract data by industry based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Policymakers working in the arts and culture fields will find the data on the "Arts, entertainment, and recreation" industry (NAICS code 710000) of particular interest. JOLTS has over 760 data series related to the arts industry and continues to collect data on this industry every month.

A crucial segment of the U.S. artist population is largely uncounted in federal population and labor surveys because they do not structure their artmaking in a way that those surveys typically define and measure "work" and "labor." Thus, there is insufficient data on the number of working artists nationwide and how their lives and livelihoods are structured. This limits the ability of funders and policymakers to make crucial decisions about how best to support them.

With support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) engaged artists, sector experts, and researchers to inform a new survey reaching an expansive, nationally representative sample of artists. This sample includes the previously "invisible" population of artists who were recruited from NORC's AmeriSpeak panel and multiple nonprobability panels.

Their survey explores the following questions:

• How many artists live and work in the United States today?
• Who are these artists?
• How do they describe their creative practice(s)?
• How are their work arrangements structured?
• How do they support themselves financially?
• What can be learned about their physical and mental health and wellbeing?

In 2014, the United States Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service (USDA ERS) conducted the Rural Establishment Innovation Survey (REIS). This survey provides a nationally representative sample of innovation processes in rural businesses. REIS defines innovation as the introduction of new goods, services, or ways of doing business that are valued by consumers. Traditional measures from secondary data sources, such as patents or research and development (R&D) expenditures, focus on science and engineering-based innovation, which usually depict rural innovation as rare or idiosyncratic. By focusing instead on a broader definition of innovation, the REIS provides a fuller assessment of rural innovative capacity.

The main research questions for this survey were:

• Are rural firms as innovative as urban firms?
• What constraints are impeding the innovative capacity of firms?
• What strategies are innovative firms using to mitigate these constraints?

The target population for the survey was Nonmetro and metro establishments with 5 or more employees in tradable sectors (mining, manufacturing, wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, finance, information, professional/technical/scientific services, arts and management of businesses). REIS used the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages Business Register for its sampling frame. Responses from 11,600 businesses were usable.

These data include responses from businesses in the Arts & Museums industry category. These businesses were oversampled by a factor of 3.3 to ensure reliable statistics.

The REIS data are restricted and require users to apply for access to the data. For permission to access to these data, visit the ERS Rural Economy Population: Business Industry page and scroll to the bottom of the page for contact information. If permission to access the data is granted, the data can be viewed through the NORC data enclave.

The Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) is a longitudinal survey that provides comprehensive information about income and assistance program participation of individuals and households in the United States. The survey collects data and measures changes in characteristics like economic well-being, family dynamics, education, assets, health insurance, child care, and food security.

SIPP data tables provide wealth and debt measures at the nation and state levels. National estimates offer detailed wealth and debt statistics for a variety of demographic, social and household characteristics. These measures include information on major contributors to wealth such as home equity and retirement accounts, as well as common types of debt such as vehicle debt, credit card debt and student loans. The state-level data highlight household net worth estimates at the state level broken down by selected asset and debt categories.

Arts and Entertainment industries tracked by SIPP:

• 8561. Performing Arts Companies
• 8562. Spectator Sports
• 8563. Promoters of performing arts, sports, and similar events, agents and managers for artists, athletes, entertainers, and other public figures
• 8564. Independent artists, writers, and performers
• 8570. Museums, art galleries, historical sites, and similar institutions

The SIPP also contains measures of whether one's children take lessons after school (ELESSON), attend religious services or events (ERELIG), or play on a sports team (ESPORT) in the Child Well-being subtopic area.

The data are accompanied by supporting materials such as data dictionaries, an online codebook and an updated users' guide. For more information about SIPP data available through ICPSR, see the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) Series.