Context :

Aims : We present an analysis of the star formation properties of field galaxies within the local volume out to a recession velocity limit of 3000 km s ^ { -1 } .

Methods : A parent sample of 863 star-forming galaxies is used to calculate a B -band luminosity function .
This is then populated with star formation information from a subsample of 327 galaxies , for which we have H \alpha imaging , firstly by calibrating a relationship between galaxy B -band luminosity and star formation rate , and secondly by a Monte Carlo simulation of a representative sample of galaxies , in which star formation information is randomly sampled from the observed subset .

Results : The total star formation rate density of the local Universe is found to be between 0.016 and 0.023 M _ { \odot } yr ^ { -1 } Mpc ^ { -3 } with the uncertainties dominated by the internal extinction correction used in converting measured H \alpha fluxes to star formation rates .
If our internally derived B -band luminosity function is replaced by one from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey blue sequence , the star formation rate densities are \sim 60 \% of the above values .
We also calculate the contribution to the total star formation rate density from galaxies of different luminosities and Hubble T -types .
The largest contribution comes from bright galaxies with M _ { B } \sim –20 mag , and the total contribution from galaxies fainter than M _ { B } = –15.5 mag is less than 10 % .
Almost 60 % of the star formation rate density comes from galaxies of types Sb , Sbc or Sc ; 9 % from galaxies earlier than Sb and 33 % from galaxies later than Sc .
Finally , 75 - 80 % of the total star formation in the local Universe is shown to be occurring in disk regions , defined as being > 1 kpc from the centres of galaxies .

Conclusions : The star formation rate density estimates found here are consistent with values from the recent literature using a range of different star formation indicators .
Even though they are numerous , dwarf galaxies contribute little to the star formation in the local Universe , and the bulk of the star formation takes place in L ^ { * } spirals .