I suppose I have a “home-based business” though given the amount of email I send, it’s actually an “email-based business” that could be anywhere, including occasionally the parking lot of Dunkin Donuts a long way from home. (Unprotected wireless is sometimes very helpful.)
This article, Most Woman-Owned US Firms based at Home, brings up some interesting statistics:
The Census Bureau found 49 percent of the nation’s businesses are operated from home. Also, three-quarters of U.S. businesses are self-employed individuals with no paid employees, it found.
The data, showing 56 percent of female-owned businesses are run from home, illustrates how women opt to work from home for an array of family reasons, workplace experts say.
Among businesses owned by men, less than half, or 47 percent, were home-based, said the U.S. Census Bureau report.
The article makes a big deal of the woman-aspect of this, but it looks to me that about half of all businesses are at home, with a slightly higher amount by women. I think people are just working at home more, which is pretty interesting in and of itself.