The U.S. craft beer market produced 23.1 million barrels in 2024, while estimated retail value reached $28.8 billion. Volume softened, but craft beer continued to represent nearly one-quarter of total beer retail dollars and supported 197,112 jobs. The figures below focus on the United States and identify whether each measurement is a reported result, an estimate, or a forecast.
Table of contents
- Market size and direction
- Retail value and market share
- Breweries and business structure
- The 2024 opening and closure cycle
- Ten-year brewery-count context
- Employment and independent brewing
- Leading craft brewing companies
- How the official beer data is reported
Market size and direction
Craft brewers produced 23.1 million barrels of beer in 2024. That was a 3.9% decrease from 2023, according to the Brewers Association 2024 craft brewing figures. The decline places craft production in a weaker short-term position than the market had occupied a year earlier, but the absolute output still shows a substantial national brewing segment.
Craft beer held 13.3% of the U.S. beer market by volume in 2024, also according to the Brewers Association 2024 craft brewing figures. The overall U.S. beer market declined 1.2% by volume during the same year. In other words, craft beer’s volume decline was larger than the decline reported for the overall beer market, making the craft share measure an important indicator of competitive pressure.
These are U.S. annual measurements for 2024, not a global craft beer market estimate. They also describe beer volume rather than the number of brands, packages, taproom visits, or home-brewed batches. Keeping those measurement boundaries clear matters when comparing market-size claims that use different definitions.
Retail value and market share
Craft beer’s estimated retail dollar value reached $28.8 billion in 2024. The Brewers Association 2024 craft brewing figures report a 3.0% year-over-year increase in that value. This is an estimate of retail dollar value, so it should not be treated as the same measure as brewers’ production revenue or wholesale shipments.
Craft beer accounted for 24.7% of total U.S. beer market retail dollar sales in 2024. The contrast with the 13.3% volume share is one of the clearest statistics in the market: craft beer represented a substantially larger portion of retail dollars than of beer volume. The two percentages use different dimensions—dollars and volume—and should not be averaged or converted into an unsupported price premium.
| U.S. craft beer measure | 2024 figure | Change or share | Source label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Production | 23.1 million barrels | Down 3.9% from 2023 | Brewers Association 2024 craft brewing figures |
| Volume share | 13.3% | Share of beer volume | Brewers Association 2024 craft brewing figures |
| Retail dollar value | Estimated $28.8 billion | Up 3.0% year over year | Brewers Association 2024 craft brewing figures |
| Retail dollar share | 24.7% | Share of total beer retail dollars | Brewers Association 2024 craft brewing figures |
The combination of falling volume and rising estimated retail value means the market’s performance differed by measure in 2024. It does not, by itself, establish the reason for that difference or prove a specific change in consumer pricing, package mix, or channel mix.
Breweries and business structure
There were 9,796 operating U.S. craft breweries in 2024. The Brewers Association 2024 craft brewing figures divide that total into 2,029 microbreweries, 3,552 brewpubs, 3,936 taproom breweries, and 279 regional craft breweries. These categories add to the reported craft-brewery total and show how strongly small, local, and hospitality-linked formats shape the sector.
The total number of U.S. breweries, including large and non-craft breweries, reached 9,922 in 2024. The count rose from 9,838 in 2023 to 9,922 in 2024. That increase in the all-brewery total occurred even while the Brewers Association reported a decline in craft production, so brewery count and beer volume should be read as separate market indicators.
The Brewers Association represented more than 9,300 small and independent American brewers. That membership figure is not the same as the 9,796 operating craft breweries count; one describes represented brewers, while the other describes operating breweries under the reported craft classification.
The 2024 opening and closure cycle
U.S. breweries opened 430 locations in 2024 and 529 closed. The Brewers Association 2024 craft brewing figures identify 2024 as the first year since 2005 in which closures outpaced openings nationwide. The reported closure rate was approximately 5%.
The opening and closure numbers provide a view of business churn rather than a direct measure of beer demand. A brewery can close while brands, recipes, equipment, or production move elsewhere, and an opening does not necessarily correspond to immediate national volume. The safest reading is that the operating environment became more difficult for the brewery base during the year.
The 2024 total of 9,922 U.S. breweries therefore sits alongside two different signals: 430 new openings and 529 closures. The existence of new entrants did not offset the number of closures in that year. This is a count of establishments and should not be used to calculate production per brewery without additional production data.
Ten-year brewery-count context
Brewers Association national beer stats report 9,578 craft breweries in 2025, down 2.9% from 9,796 in 2024. The same source reports 9,724 total U.S. breweries in 2025, down 2.9% from 9,922 in 2024. These are later annual counts and should not be blended into the 2024 production or retail-value measures as if they described the same period.
| Brewery category | 2015 | 2024 | 2025 | 2024–2025 change reported |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Craft breweries | 4,803 | 9,796 | 9,578 | Down 2.9% |
| Regional craft breweries | 178 | 279 | 275 | Down 0.4% |
| Microbreweries | 2,684 | 2,029 | 1,994 | Down 4.4% |
| Brewpubs | 1,941 | 3,552 | 3,525 | Down 2.5% |
| Taproom breweries | Not supplied | 3,936 | 3,784 | Down 2.7% |
| Total U.S. breweries | Not supplied | 9,922 | 9,724 | Down 2.9% |
The longer view is mixed by category. Craft brewery count increased from 4,803 in 2015 to 9,796 in 2024 before easing to 9,578 in 2025. Regional craft breweries rose from 178 in 2015 to 279 in 2024 and then eased to 275 in 2025. Brewpubs rose from 1,941 in 2015 to 3,552 in 2024 before easing to 3,525 in 2025.
Microbreweries followed a different path: the count rose from 2,684 in 2015 to 2,029 in 2024 before easing to 1,994 in 2025. Taproom breweries numbered 3,936 in 2024 and 3,784 in 2025. The available figures do not provide a 2015 taproom count, so no ten-year comparison is stated for that category.
Large/non-craft breweries numbered 44 in 2015, 126 in 2024, and 146 in 2025. The Brewers Association national beer stats label the 2024-to-2025 change as a 1.4% decline from the 2024 base used by the association, although the displayed counts rise from 126 to 146. Because the supplied figures are internally inconsistent on this point, the counts are preserved while the percentage is not interpreted further.
Employment and independent brewing
Employment in the U.S. craft brewing sector reached 197,112 in 2024, according to the Brewers Association 2024 craft brewing figures. Employment grew 3.0% year over year. This increase contrasts with the 3.9% production decline reported for the same year, illustrating that workforce totals and beer output can move in different directions.
The employment statistic is sector employment for 2024. It is not a count of brewery owners, full-time workers only, taproom staff only, or jobs created by the entire U.S. beer economy. Those distinctions are important for readers using the number to assess labor demand or local economic impact.
Small and independent brewers also remained prominent in company rankings. Forty-one of the top 50 overall U.S. brewing companies were small and independent craft brewers in 2024. Eight breweries entered the top 50 craft list compared with the prior year, according to the Brewers Association 2024 craft brewing figures. The rankings indicate representation among leading companies, not an estimate of the entire craft sector’s share of production.
Leading craft brewing companies
The Brewers Association top 50 craft brewing companies list identifies the following first 41 ranked companies for 2024:
- D.G. Yuengling and Son Inc — Pottsville, PA
- Boston Beer Co — Boston, MA
- Sierra Nevada Brewing Co — Chico, CA
- Tilray Beer Brands — New York, NY
- Duvel Moortgat USA — Cooperstown, NY
- Gambrinus — Shiner, TX
- Matt Brewing Co — Utica, NY
- Athletic Brewing Company — Milford, CT
- Brooklyn Brewery — Brooklyn, NY
- Monster Brewing — Longmont, CO
- Deschutes Brewery — Bend, OR
- New Glarus Brewing Co — New Glarus, WI
- Barrel One Collective — Boston, MA
- Georgetown Brewing Co — Seattle, WA
- Gordon Biersch Brewing Co — San Jose, CA
- Rhinegeist Brewery — Cincinnati, OH
- Craft ‘Ohana (Maui/Modern Times) — Kihei, HI
- Great Lakes Brewing Company — Cleveland, OH
- Narragansett Brewing Co — Pawtucket, RI
- Tröegs Brewing Co — Hershey, PA
- Allagash Brewing Company — Portland, ME
- August Schell Brewing Company — New Ulm, MN
- Fiddlehead Brewing — Shelburne, VT
- Stevens Point Brewery — Stevens Point, WI
- Pittsburgh Brewing Co — Pittsburgh, PA
- Three Floyds Brewing — Munster, IN
- Odell Brewing Co — Fort Collins, CO
- Great Frontier Holdings — Eugene, OR
- Abita Brewing Co — Covington, LA
- BrewDog Brewing Co — Canal Winchester, OH
- Creature Comforts Brewing Co. — Athens, GA
- Hendler Family Brewing Company — Framingham, MA
- Alaskan Brewing Co. — Juneau, AK
- Summit Brewing Co — St. Paul, MN
- Saint Arnold Brewing Co — Houston, TX
- Revolution Brewing — Chicago, IL
- Kona Brewing Hawaii — Kailua-Kona, HI
- Pizza Port — Carlsbad, CA
- Surly Brewing Company — Minneapolis, MN
- pFriem Family Brewers — Hood River, OR
- Fremont Brewing — Seattle, WA
The supplied ranking reaches rank 41, so no additional company names or ranks are inferred. Company headquarters are shown with the reported city and state, and the list should be read as a ranking of leading craft brewing companies rather than a complete list of U.S. breweries.
How the official beer data is reported
The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) publishes beer reports derived from Brewer’s Report of Operations forms TTB F 5130.9 and TTB F 5130.26. The TTB Beer Reports portal includes monthly national reports, annual data, production-by-size data, and brewery-count-by-state data.
The TTB monthly beer report notes that 2025 taxable removals are reported as total volume only under the Tax Simplification Pilot Program. That reporting note limits how some 2025 removals data can be compared with more detailed historical measures. TTB generated the national beer report dated 19-MAR-2026 for its public statistics file.
For market analysis, the practical distinction is between the Brewers Association measures used above—craft production, retail value, employment, and craft-company rankings—and TTB reporting based on operational tax forms. They can complement one another, but they should not be treated as interchangeable series without checking the period, geography, classification, and unit of measurement.