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.

While the number of responses (242 firms) is not fully representative of our field, this research is essential to understanding and supporting the growth of worker-owned and democratic workplaces. To capture the experience of worker-owners, we also collected qualitative data to better illustrate the experiences of the workers.

The report includes an updated map of metro areas home to concentrations of worker cooperatives in the United States and Puerto Rico.

What to watch: economic and political developments continue to have an outsized effect on small businesses regardless of model. Future censuses will continue to monitor the effects of these developments, which we expect to see in the 2027 census.