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U.S. Home to 28.4M Small Businesses Employing 56M Workers, SBA Reports
The U.S. is home to more than 28.4 million small businesses (less than 500 employees), employing over 56 million workers (approximately half of the nation’s workforce), according to a recently released a report entitled Small Business Profiles for the States and Territories, an annual analysis of each state’s small businesses. Released by the Small Businesses Administration’s Office of Advocacy, the report provides information on the number of firms, employment, demographics, and other topics at both the national and state levels. Included in the report are detailed profiles for all 50 states and key U.S. territories that are intended to be a reference tool for researchers, policymakers, and small entities who are interested in how small firms are performing regionally or nationally.
Key national statistics include:
- Firms with fewer than 100 employees have the largest share of small business employment;
- Nationally, small businesses created nearly 2.2 million net new jobs in 2012 – the biggest gain was in the smallest firm size category of one to four employees;
- The median income for individuals who are self-employed at their own incorporated businesses for the past 12 months was $49,363 in 2013;
- The number of people who were primarily self-employed in 2013 decreased by 1.2 percent relative to the previous year.
- 10.9 percent of all veteran-owned firms were in the professional, science, and technology services industry, veteran-owned firms made up 16.9 percent of this industry in 2007;
- In 2013, 630,357 establishments opened, and 79.5 percent survived through 2014; and,
- 297,995 small firms exported goods in 2012, generating 33 percent of the nation’s total known export value.
The top five states for:
- Number of small business employees in 2012 – California (6.5 million); Texas (4.2 million); New York (3.9 million); Florida (3 million); and, Pennsylvania (2.4 million);
- Private sector employment growth from 2013-2014 – North Dakota (5.8 percent); Texas (4.2 percent); Utah (3.7 percent); Delaware (3.2 percent); and Florida/Nevada (both with 3.1 percent); and,
- Highest percent of small establishments surviving from 2013-2014 – Washington (87.4 percent); Delaware (84.7 percent); Wisconsin (83.1 percent); Connecticut (82.1 percent); and Utah (81.8 percent).