LIVING STATISTICS

    Living Statistics — Art Morph Atlas

    Updated annually

    Last Updated: May 2026

    Statistics referenced in Art Morph Atlas are maintained here with current, verified wording and sources. This section is updated annually.

    STATISTICCURRENT WORDINGSOURCE
    Creator economy market sizeThe creator economy is now broadly estimated as a roughly quarter-trillion-dollar global market, with 2025–2026 estimates ranging from about $249B to $314B depending on methodology.Grand View Research
    Creator economy projectionGoldman Sachs projected that the creator economy could rise from about $250B to $480B by 2027.Goldman Sachs, April 2023
    Creator economy participantsAdobe estimated 303M creators across nine major markets in 2022; Goldman Sachs estimated 50M global creators, but only about 4% qualified as professionals earning more than $100K/year.Adobe / Goldman Sachs
    Creator / influencer distinctionAdobe found that about 14% of creators in its 2022 study qualified as influencers, defined as having 5,000+ followers and earning money through social media.Adobe Future of Creativity
    Enterprise AI adoptionMcKinsey's 2025 global AI survey found that 88% of organizations reported regular AI use in at least one business function, up from 78% in the prior year and 72% in early 2024.McKinsey State of AI 2025
    AI agent experimentationMcKinsey found that 62% of surveyed organizations were at least experimenting with AI agents, but only about one-third had begun scaling AI across the enterprise.McKinsey State of AI 2025
    AI workforce impact expectationsMcKinsey's 2025 survey found that 32% of respondents expected AI to reduce their organization's total workforce by 3% or more in the next year, while 43% expected no change and 13% expected an increase.McKinsey State of AI 2025
    AI in art and creativity marketThe broader AI in art and creativity market is estimated at $7.16B in 2026 and projected to reach $17.25B by 2030, at about 24.6% CAGR.Research and Markets
    Generative AI in art marketThe narrower generative AI in art market is estimated at $0.88B in 2026, up from $0.62B in 2025, and projected to reach $3.56B by 2030.The Business Research Company
    Creator generative AI adoptionAdobe's 2025 Creators' Toolkit Report found that 86% of global creators surveyed use creative generative AI.Adobe MAX 2025 Creators Survey
    Creator concerns about AI trainingAdobe found that 69% of creators were concerned about their content being used to train AI without permission.Adobe MAX 2025 Creators Survey
    Mobile-first creator productionAdobe found that 72% of creators frequently create content on mobile devices, and 75% expect to produce even more mobile-first content in the next year.Adobe MAX 2025 Creators Survey
    Creative AI daily useEnvato's 2026 study found that 49% of surveyed creative professionals use AI daily for client work.Envato Beyond Adoption 2026
    Creative AI disclosure gapEnvato found that 58% of creative professionals use AI without disclosing it to clients, while 31% say they always disclose AI use.Envato Beyond Adoption 2026
    Creative AI adoption by disciplineEnvato reported daily AI use rates of 65% for web developers, 60% for marketers, 58% for content creators, 58% for 3D artists, and 40% for graphic designers/illustrators and motion graphics/videographers.Envato Beyond Adoption 2026
    Digital content creation marketThe global digital content creation market was estimated at $36.38B in 2025 and projected to reach $69.80B by 2030, at 13.9% CAGR.Grand View Research
    Print-on-demand marketThe global print-on-demand market is estimated at about $10.78B–$12.96B in 2025, with major forecasts projecting roughly 23.6%–24.8% CAGR.Grand View Research
    U.S. artist workforceThe U.S. artist workforce is roughly 2.7M–2.8M people, depending on NEA source and year. NEA's ACS-based report found about 2.8M artists in 2023, representing 1.6% of the labor force; NEA's CPS-based report found about 2.7M artists in 2024.NEA Artists in the Workforce
    Artist labor structureNEA found that 72% of artists worked full-time in 2024, compared with 80% of the total labor force; 9% of artists held a second job, compared with 5% of the total labor force.NEA Indicator Report
    U.S. arts economy valueU.S. arts and cultural production accounted for $1.17T, or 4.2% of GDP, in 2023.BEA Arts & Cultural Production Satellite Account
    U.S. arts/culture employmentU.S. arts and cultural employment reached about 5.4M wage-and-salary jobs in 2023.BEA Arts & Cultural Production Satellite Account
    Arts trade surplusU.S. arts and cultural exports were $91.2B in 2023, while imports were $54.5B, producing a $36.8B arts trade surplus.NEA / BEA, 2025
    Global art market sizeThe global art market returned to growth in 2025, rising 4% to $59.6B, with about 41.5M transactions.Art Basel / UBS
    Online art salesOnline art sales were $9.2B in 2025, down from $10.5B in 2024 and $11.8B in 2023. The $13.3B figure refers to the 2021 peak, not the current market.Art Basel / UBS Global Art Market Report 2026
    New buyers in the art marketIn 2025, 49% of dealer buyers were new to the business; for the smallest dealers, new buyers reached 60%.Art Basel / UBS Global Art Market Report 2026
    Female artist representationIn 2025, female artist representation reached 50% among primary-market galleries and 45% across all dealers, while sales by female artists accounted for 37% of dealer sales value.Art Basel / UBS Global Art Market Report 2026
    White-collar contractionQuartz reported that white-collar payrolls had contracted for 31 consecutive months by April 2026. Use this as a dated Quartz/Terrazas labor-market indicator, not as an official BLS category.Quartz / Terrazas