Entrepreneur From Home: How Home-Based Businesses Provide Flexibility and Opportunity—and How Cities Can Get Out of Their Way

America is a nation of entrepreneurs, and many of those entrepreneurs run their businesses from home. To better understand how and why entrepreneurs start at home, the Institute for Justice surveyed 1,902 home-based business owners between November 2020 and March 2021, a time when the COVID-19 pandemic caused job losses, shuttered businesses and kept many people at home. The survey revealed sizable portions of respondents started businesses after pandemic-related job losses (one in three) or business closures (one in four). For these and other entrepreneurs, home-based businesses provide essential income and much-needed flexibility. And for many, they may be the first step toward bigger things. But the story was not all positive: Survey respondents also reported finding local regulations burdensome. To help people help themselves during the pandemic and beyond, cities can and should ease outdated regulatory burdens that get in the way of home-based entrepreneurs.