A new study commissioned by TikTok has revealed that 4.7 million jobs in the United States benefit from the platform’s business accounts, highlighting its growing importance to American businesses since its U.S. launch in 2018. 

Conducted by Oxford Economics in late 2024 through early 2025, the research provides a detailed look at how the social media platform has become integrated into business operations across the country.

Business Account Usage Across America

According to the report, approximately 7.5 million businesses maintain active TikTok accounts among the platform’s 170 million U.S. users. 

These businesses collectively employ more than 28 million people, with the platform’s business users spanning all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

The study distinguishes between different levels of TikTok engagement within businesses. About 3.1 million employees directly engage with TikTok business accounts, spending significant time each week creating content, communicating with customers, or managing marketing campaigns on the platform. 

An additional 1.6 million employees indirectly benefit from TikTok accounts through sales leads, marketing insights, and customer feedback, without directly operating the accounts themselves.

California leads the nation with approximately 420,000 jobs directly engaged with TikTok, followed by Texas (360,000), Florida (250,000), and New York (210,000). For indirect benefits, California again tops the list with 230,000 jobs, with Texas (160,000), New York (120,000), and Florida (100,000) following.

Image credit: Oxford Economics

Small Business Impact

The research reveals that micro-businesses—those with between one and 20 employees—show the highest rate of direct engagement with TikTok at 8.5% of their workforce, compared to 0.3% for large businesses. 

However, employees at smaller businesses typically spend less time managing their TikTok accounts than those at larger companies who focus on the platform.

In terms of indirect benefits, 19% of employees at micro-firms benefit from TikTok in some way, compared to just 1% at large firms. 

This suggests the platform offers proportionally greater value to smaller businesses, though the study notes that in absolute numbers, employees at America’s largest firms make up a significant portion of TikTok business users.

Business Growth and Platform Features

The survey portion of the study, which included 1,000 businesses with TikTok accounts, found that 74% of businesses using TikTok reported that the platform had allowed them to scale their operations. 

This sentiment was stronger among large businesses (86%) than small and mid-sized businesses (73%), but remained consistent across diverse ownership demographics including women-owned businesses (80%), racial minority-owned businesses (62%), and those owned by older adults (63%).

Image credit: Oxford Economics

The research reveals that businesses are taking advantage of multiple TikTok features, with 75% of surveyed businesses using three or more of the platform’s business-focused tools. 

Creative Tools and TikTok Live were the most popular features, each used by approximately 80% of respondents, followed by Brand Ads at nearly 50%. The report also notes that despite only launching in late 2023, TikTok Shop generated $9 billion in U.S. merchandise transaction volume in 2024.

Potential Ban Concerns

When surveyed about the potential impact of a TikTok ban, 64% of businesses using the platform reported that it would negatively affect their business growth and capacity to create new job opportunities. 

Large businesses expressed greater concern (82%) than SMBs (62%). Women-owned businesses were particularly concerned, with 70% indicating a ban would have negative effects, compared to 50% of businesses owned by racial minorities and 47% of those owned by older adults.

U.S. President Donald Trump recently revealed that negotiations were underway with “four different groups” interested in acquiring TikTok’s U.S. operations as the April 5 deadline approaches for possibly banning the video-sharing platform.

Trump previously indicated that he wants the U.S. government to broker a deal for 50% control of TikTok. Some bidders propose allowing the U.S. to invest in or own a stake in the platform, with Trump himself suggesting a new government-owned investment fund could partially own the platform.

Methodology and Limitations

Oxford Economics conducted its survey between December 23, 2024, and January 28, 2025, recruiting respondents independently of TikTok through a third party. The researchers combined survey results with TikTok’s proprietary data on business accounts based on state and business population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The study acknowledges certain limitations, including potential response bias due to disruption around a temporary TikTok ban on January 19-21, 2025, which occurred during the survey period. Additionally, the researchers noted they could only weigh survey results by state due to limited demographic information about the target population.

The full study is available here.