How many accountants are in the US: 1.45 million employed, 650,667 licensed CPAs, and the free IRS list of preparers

This page is for anyone who needs the number of accountants in the US, and for companies that sell to accountants and the firms they work for: tax, audit and practice management software, payroll and bookkeeping platforms, recruiting and staffing, continuing education, insurance and services. It reconciles the official counts, breaks them down by firm type, size and state, and shows how to get the lists. For the firms themselves, see our list of accounting firms.

How many accountants there are in the US

Why the counts differ

• An occupation isn't a license. OEWS counts people whose job is accounting or auditing, licensed or not. NASBA counts CPA licenses, and many CPAs work as CFOs, controllers, financial managers or teachers rather than as "accountants". An active license doesn't mean the holder is still practicing.
• Payroll counts miss the self-employed. OEWS covers employees only. A sole practitioner shows up in Census's 405,112 nonemployer businesses and, if they prepare returns, in the IRS's preparer count, but not in the 1,449,500.
• PTINs measure tax work. Anyone paid to prepare federal returns needs a preparer tax identification number (PTIN). Only 209,076 CPAs have one, so most CPAs don't prepare returns for clients.
• Offices aren't firms. County Business Patterns counts each office with employees, so a national firm with 100 offices counts 100 times.
• Credentials overlap. The IRS notes that some preparers hold several credentials, so its CPA, enrolled agent and attorney counts can't be added up.

Where accountants work

Of the 1,449,500 accountants and auditors in May 2025, 330,500 worked in accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services, 23% of the total. The other three quarters work in finance teams at companies, nonprofits and government. Related occupations are just as large:

So a product for accountants has two markets: firms that sell accounting as a service, and the finance departments of every other employer.

Accounting firms by type

BLS's unemployment insurance records count 186,990 locations in 2025; the two programs build their counts differently. For the code itself, see the NAICS code for bookkeeping and accounting.

CPA offices by size

Two thirds of CPA offices have fewer than five people. The 7,475 offices with 10 to 49 employees are the classic regional or local firm, big enough to buy software and services as a business but small enough that a managing partner still signs.

Accountants by state

CPA offices from County Business Patterns; CPAs from the IRS's August 2026 PTIN listing, by business address.

By employment, OEWS counts 175,360 accountants and auditors in California, 116,470 in Texas, 109,830 in New York, 91,000 in Florida, 54,930 in Illinois and 44,020 in Georgia.

How to get a list of accountants and accounting firms

1. The IRS preparer listing. The IRS releases every PTIN holder who can be disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act as free CSV files by state, updated twice a year. The August 2026 file has 784,731 preparers with name, business name, business address, phone, website and credential (CPA, enrolled agent, attorney and others). 204,939 list CPA, 617,395 give a phone number and 221,110 a website.
2. Group people into firms. Group the listing by business name and city to see firm size. In Texas, 16,676 CPAs give 11,286 business name and city combinations; 231 have five or more CPAs and 75 have ten or more.
3. Check a license. NASBA's Accountancy Licensee Database, which its CPA count comes from, can be searched one licensee at a time, and each state board of accountancy has its own lookup.
4. Count a market. County Business Patterns gives CPA offices by county and size band, free from the Census Bureau.

The listing names individuals, so use it for business outreach only, follow the email and calling rules that apply to you, and remove anyone who asks.

Who buys at an accounting firm

As general guidance, these are the usual owners by what you sell:

Firms run on the tax calendar. For 2025 returns, partnership and S corporation returns were due on 16 March 2026 and individual and calendar-year C corporation returns on 15 April 2026, with extended deadlines on 15 September and 15 October 2026. Don't pitch in those weeks. The months after April and after October are when partners have time to change tools.

Worked example: client portal software for Texas CPA firms

Illustrative example. The company and its rates are invented; the counts come from County Business Patterns 2023 and the IRS's August 2026 PTIN listing.

The seller: Tallypoint (tallypoint.example) sells a client portal and workflow tool to CPA firms. The territory: Texas.

1. Count the market. Texas has 4,096 CPA offices with employees, 349 of them with 10 to 19 employees and 152 with 20 to 49. Tallypoint targets those 501 offices, which are large enough to feel the pain of chasing client documents by email.
2. Find the names. The PTIN listing has 16,676 Texas CPAs. Grouped by business name and city, 231 firms have five or more CPAs who prepare returns, a strong match for the target band, each with a phone number and often a website.
3. Time it. Contact firms in late April and May, and again in late October, after the deadlines.
4. Do the arithmetic. If Tallypoint reaches the managing partner at an illustrative 70% of the 501 offices, that's 351 contacts. A 5% reply rate gives 18 conversations; closing a quarter gives 4 or 5 firms. At an illustrative $12,000 a year each, that's about $54,000 in new annual revenue from one state.

Finding the managing partner and what's changed at each firm (a merger, a new office, a private equity investment) is the slow part; Bebop finds the contacts and researches each firm in the list.

Next step: profile each target firm with the account research template before you write.