Microbrewery statistics show a large, diverse U.S. brewing sector that has changed materially over the past decade. The Brewers Association counted 1,994 U.S. microbreweries in 2025, within a total of 9,724 operating breweries. The same 2025 data shows falling beer production and craft volume alongside a craft market worth $27.8 billion at retail.
Contents
- Microbrewery counts over time
- The 2025 U.S. brewery landscape
- Craft beer production and market share
- Economic impact and employment
- Openings, closings, and the 2024 operating base
- Beer competitions and consumer-facing scale
Microbrewery counts over time
The Brewers Association’s National Beer Sales & Production Data lists the following annual U.S. microbrewery counts. These figures describe the measurement year shown, so they should be read as a time series rather than as a current estimate for every year.
| Year | U.S. microbreweries |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 2,684 |
| 2016 | 3,319 |
| 2017 | 3,956 |
| 2018 | 4,518 |
| 2019 | 1,917 |
| 2020 | 2,003 |
| 2021 | 2,007 |
| 2022 | 2,132 |
| 2023 | 2,092 |
| 2024 | 2,029 |
| 2025 | 1,994 |
The reported count rose from 2,684 in 2015 to 3,319 in 2016, then to 3,956 in 2017 and 4,518 in 2018. The next reported value was 1,917 in 2019. Because the series changes sharply between 2018 and 2019, the figures should be presented as reported annual values without assuming that the difference represents only new openings, closures, or a single operating condition.
After the 2019 figure, the count was 2,003 in 2020 and 2,007 in 2021. It reached 2,132 in 2022, then moved to 2,092 in 2023, 2,029 in 2024, and 1,994 in 2025. The recent sequence therefore includes both a rise through 2022 and lower reported microbrewery counts in 2023, 2024, and 2025.
For context, the Brewers Association’s 2024 Craft Brewing Industry Figures separately reported 2,029 microbreweries among operating U.S. craft breweries in 2024. That source also reported 9,796 operating U.S. craft breweries and 9,922 total operating U.S. breweries for 2024. The 2024 Year in Beer reported 9,736 small and independent breweries in operation. These are source-specific category counts and should not be treated as interchangeable labels.
The 2025 U.S. brewery landscape
The 2025 National Beer Sales & Production Data places microbreweries inside a broader mix of brewery formats. The total craft brewery count was 9,578, while total U.S. breweries numbered 9,724. The difference between those totals was represented by 146 large or non-craft breweries in the same dataset.
The craft brewery categories in 2025 were:
- 1,994 microbreweries.
- 275 regional craft breweries.
- 3,784 taproom breweries.
- 3,525 brewpubs.
These category counts describe different parts of the craft brewing landscape. A microbrewery statistic is therefore only one lens on the market; taproom breweries and brewpubs represent substantial additional operating formats. For readers comparing business models, the 2025 count of 3,784 taproom breweries and 3,525 brewpubs provides important context around the 1,994 microbreweries.
The Brewers Association also reported 9,724 total U.S. breweries in 2025. Within that national base, small and independent brewers held 13.3% of U.S. beer volume market share. Craft retail dollar sales were $27.8 billion, and craft beer accounted for 24.6% of the $113 billion U.S. beer market by retail dollars.
The 2025 market figures describe different measures. The 13.3% figure is a volume share, while the 24.6% figure is a retail-dollar share. They should not be compared as if they measured the same unit. The $27.8 billion figure is craft retail dollar sales, while the $113 billion figure is the broader U.S. beer market value cited by the Brewers Association.
Craft beer production and market share
The Brewers Association’s 2023 Production Report reported that small and independent brewers produced 23.4 million barrels of beer in 2023. Craft beer output declined 1.0% from 2022 to 2023, while the overall beer market shrank 5.1% by volume during the same period.
Small and independent brewers held 13.3% of U.S. beer volume market share in 2023. The 2025 National Beer Sales & Production Data also reported a 13.3% volume market share for small and independent brewers in 2025. The matching percentage does not mean the underlying market conditions were identical: the 2023 report supplied a production total and a year-over-year output change, while the 2025 data supplied a later market snapshot.
Craft retail dollar value was estimated at $28.9 billion in 2023, with a 24.7% market share, according to the Brewers Association’s 2023 Production Report. For 2025, the Brewers Association reported craft retail dollar sales of $27.8 billion and craft beer at 24.6% of the $113 billion U.S. beer market. The 2023 retail value is explicitly an estimate; the 2025 figures are reported for that measurement year.
The 2025 report also stated that overall U.S. beer production and imports fell 5.7%, while craft brewer volume sales declined 4%. These percentages are declines for 2025 and should not be read as a forecast for a later year. Together with the 2023 figures, they show contraction in both the broader beer market and craft volume during the periods measured by the Brewers Association.
| Measure | 2023 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Small and independent brewer volume share | 13.3% | 13.3% |
| Craft retail dollar measure | Estimated $28.9 billion; 24.7% share | $27.8 billion; 24.6% share |
| Reported volume change | Craft output down 1.0% from 2022 | Craft brewer volume sales down 4% |
The table combines two source years and should be used for comparison of reported measures, not for unsupported calculations between them.
Economic impact and employment
The Brewers Association’s Economic Impact figures reported that craft breweries contributed $71.8 billion to the U.S. economy in 2025. The same source reported more than 415,000 total jobs provided by craft breweries in 2025.
Direct employment was reported separately: craft breweries and brewpubs directly employed more than 189,000 workers in 2025. The direct-employment figure is not the same as the total-jobs figure. The two measures should remain distinct because one is specifically direct employment by craft breweries and brewpubs, while the other is the total number of jobs attributed to craft breweries in the source’s economic-impact measure.
These 2025 economic figures add a scale measure beyond brewery counts. A count of 1,994 microbreweries does not by itself describe the sector’s wider contribution, because the craft category also includes regional craft breweries, taproom breweries, and brewpubs. The $71.8 billion economic contribution and more than 415,000 jobs apply to craft breweries as reported by the Brewers Association, not specifically to microbreweries alone.
Openings, closings, and the 2024 operating base
The Brewers Association’s 2024 Year in Beer reported 335 new brewery openings and 399 brewery closings in 2024. It also reported 9,736 small and independent breweries in operation that year. These figures describe the 2024 operating environment and use the source’s small-and-independent category.
The Brewers Association’s 2024 Craft Brewing Industry Figures reported a different set of 2024 totals: 430 new brewery openings, 529 brewery closings, 9,796 operating U.S. craft breweries, and 9,922 total operating U.S. breweries. Because the two publications use different named measures and report different counts, their opening, closing, and operating totals should be attributed to their respective sources rather than combined.
The 2024 craft brewery mix in the Craft Brewing Industry Figures consisted of 2,029 microbreweries, 3,552 brewpubs, 3,936 taproom breweries, and 279 regional craft breweries. The same source reported that 41 of the top 50 overall U.S. brewing companies were small and independent craft brewers in 2024.
That top-50 figure indicates a strong presence of small and independent companies among the largest overall brewing companies, but it does not state that all small and independent breweries were large companies or that the 41 companies were microbreweries. It is best used as a company-ranking statistic alongside, rather than inside, the microbrewery count.
Beer competitions and consumer-facing scale
The 2024 Year in Beer also provides event-level measures that illustrate the breadth of the U.S. and international brewing community. The 2024 Great American Beer Festival welcomed more than 40,000 attendees, featured more than 2,500 beers, and included more than 500 breweries.
The 2024 World Beer Cup evaluated 9,300 entries, with brewers from 37 countries competing. These are competition and event figures for 2024, not estimates of the number of operating microbreweries. They add context about participation and product variety without changing the brewery-count statistics.
For home brewers and beer readers, the event figures help put the category’s variety in perspective: more than 2,500 beers appeared at one 2024 Great American Beer Festival, while the World Beer Cup evaluated 9,300 entries across a competition involving brewers from 37 countries. The statistics describe entries, beers, breweries, attendees, and countries separately; they do not support treating any one of those values as a count of microbreweries.
Across the reported periods, microbrewery counts, craft production, market share, employment, and event participation measure different parts of the beer economy. The clearest reading keeps each source’s category, geography, year, and unit visible: U.S. microbreweries numbered 1,994 in 2025; craft breweries contributed $71.8 billion to the U.S. economy in 2025; and the 2024 beer events reported thousands of entries and tens of thousands of attendees.