$1.17T
U.S. arts & cultural GDP in 2023, 4.2% of GDP, 5.4M jobs.
Why This Work Matters
The creative economy is larger, healthier, and more underserved than most people realize.
A short tour of what the data actually says about the size of the sector, the gap independent creatives are still living with, and what the arts do for the people and places that foster them.
2×
Arts & cultural industries grew at more than twice the rate of the U.S. economy.
$9.3B
Indiana's arts & cultural contribution, yet just 2.0% of Gross State Product.
01 – Global
A trillion-dollar sector, still climbing.
The creative economy contributes between 0.5% and 7.3% of GDP across countries surveyed, and employs up to 12.5% of the workforce (UNCTAD, 2024).
Creative services exports reached $1.4 trillion in 2022, a 29% jump since 2017, while creative goods exports hit $713 billion (UNCTAD, 2024). UNESCO estimates cultural and creative industries account for 6.2% of global employment and 3.1% of world GDP (UNESCO via IT-RC).
The global creator economy alone is estimated at $253.1B in 2025, projected to reach roughly $2 trillion by 2035, a 23.3% compound annual growth rate (Future Market Insights).
02 – United States
Bigger than agriculture, mining, transportation, and warehousing.
Arts and cultural activity reached $1.17 trillion in 2023, 4.2% of U.S. GDP and 5.4 million jobs (BEA, 2025). The sector grew 6.6% in inflation-adjusted terms, more than twice the rate of the broader economy (NEA, 2025). The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will no longer produce these statistics, another indicator of the perception of the creative economy's importance despite all the strong evidence in its favor.
This contribution exceeded that of agriculture, forestry, fishing & hunting, mining, outdoor recreation, and transportation & warehousing (NEA, 2025). Inflation-adjusted value added by arts and culture has doubled over 25 years (Mass Cultural Council).
Arts & cultural production outpaces agriculture, mining, and transportation & warehousing. Source: BEA, 2025.
_R_hj2q_Nonprofit arts & culture generated $151.7 billion in economic activity in 2022, supported 2.6 million jobs, and produced $29.1 billion in tax revenue.
Audiences spend $38.46 per person per arts event beyond admission. Out-of-county attendees, 30% of the audience, spend an average of $60.57, nearly twice what locals spend (AEP6). The arts pull dollars into communities and holds them there.
And the gap that matters most to us: the value to GDP of independent artists, writers, and performers in 2023 was roughly on par with 2019, a decrease from 2022 even as the overall sector grew (Mass Cultural Council). This is the cohort Yorn serves. This is the cohort recovery and support efforts have largely bypassed.
03 – Indiana
Powerful creative assets, underperforming infrastructure.
Indiana's arts and cultural industries added $9.3 billion to the state economy in 2022, but just 2.0% of Gross State Product, ranking ahead of only Delaware, West Virginia, and Mississippi (CICP, 2024).
82,813 Hoosiers work in arts and cultural industries, 2.5% of state employment. Average compensation: $63,105, against $71,529 for all salaried jobs in Indiana (CICP, 2024).
Workers in the top 15 arts-dense states earn $78,175 on average. In the lowest-density 15, they earn nearly $22,000 less.
Indiana has the fourth-lowest density of arts & culture in the country. Annual wages are nearly $12,000 below the national average (CICP, 2024).
04 – The Gap
Where the support runs out.
The CICP report calls for economic development leaders to prioritize the creative sector through strengthened small business supports, and for university art programs to teach entrepreneurship, finance, and intellectual property (CICP, 2024). Those aren't things Indiana currently does well. That's the gap Yorn occupies.
The largest academic surveys of artists in 2022 and 2024 found high education levels paired with salaries well below professional-worker averages, significant unpaid work, and gender pay gaps inside the sector itself. Only 25% of respondents spent all their working time as an artist; 82% drew income from other sources (The Conversation).
The median income from artists' primary jobs was just $15,000, with 61% of those primary jobs part-time. Nearly 30% of artists' primary income-earning jobs are not in the arts at all, with top non-arts occupations in health care, sales, and education (NORC).
More than half of U.S. artists, 57%, are somewhat or very worried about at least one form of financial vulnerability, including affording food, housing, medical care, or utilities. 22% worry about having enough to eat, and 32% worry about covering medical costs (NORC).
Income instability and limited access to benefits remain widespread. Half of artists are self-employed in their primary job, and 11% juggled three or more jobs in the past year (NORC).
Research consistently identifies a gap between skills acquired through art education and skills required for viable careers, and the scarcity of arts entrepreneurship education in curricula (Frontiers in Education).
Share of U.S. artists reporting each condition. Sources: NORC; The Conversation.
_R_3uj2q_Creative industries are viewed by traditional lenders as high-risk because of income seasonality, lack of collateral, and the difficulty of valuing intangible assets like intellectual property, all of which impede growth even when the work is strong (World Bank S4YE).
40% of artists in one survey admitted feeling unconfident communicating professionally; marketing and self-promotion are areas where many consistently fall short (Hyperlux). Isolation compounds it. Peer support, mentorship, and collaborative workspaces are the most effective mitigations identified in the literature (Artivate).
05 – What the Arts Do for People
The case beyond the economics.
A longitudinal study of 6,710 adults aged 50+ found that even infrequent arts engagement was associated with a 14% lower risk of death; frequent engagement more than doubles that, 31% lower (Frontiers in Psychology, 2023).
A 2023 systematic review across 10 studies and 7,874 participants found both active and receptive arts engagement effective at reducing cognitive decline and improving well-being and quality of life (PubMed). The NEA links arts participation in older adults to reduced cognitive decline and improved mood among patients with Alzheimer's and neurodegenerative disorders (NEA, Arts & Health).
Making and listening to music, dancing, visual art, and visiting cultural sites are all associated with lower daily anxiety, lower biological stress, and reduced risk of developing depression in adolescence and older age (NCBI).
Cultural resources are associated with a 14% decrease in cases of child abuse and neglect. In lower-income neighborhoods they are associated with better health, schooling, and security.
Arts participation is associated with lower poverty rates and improvements in executive function, mental health, working memory, IQ, and educational attainment. People with access to arts and cultural activities are more attached to their communities and less likely to move away. This relationship is even stronger among Gen Z workers (CICP, 2024).
72% of business leaders say creativity is of "high importance" when hiring, and for two years running, creativity has topped LinkedIn's list as the most needed soft skill in business (AEP6 / Conference Board).
The need is real. The economics are real. The gap is the part we can fix.