Frequently Asked Question?
What is a small business?
The Office of Advocacy generally defines a small business as an independent business having fewer than 500 employees.
How many small businesses are there in the U.S.?
There are 33,185,550 small businesses in the U.S.
What percent of net new jobs do small business create?
From 1995 to 2021, small businesses created 17.3 million net new jobs while large businesses created 10.3 million. Small businesses have accounted for 62.7% of net new job creation since 1995.
What is the new business survival rate?
From 1994-2020, an average of 67.7% of new employer establishments survived at least two years. During the same period, the five-year survival rate was 48.9%, the ten-year survival rate was 33.7%, and the fifteen-year survival rate was 25.6%. Survival rates by owner demographic showed slight differences. The 2017-2019 two-year survival rate for young employer establishments (2-3-year-old firms surviving to at least 4-5 years old) was 79%. The breakdown indicates the percentage of Women (81%), Black (73%), Hispanic (82%), Asian (78%) and Veteran-owned businesses (84%). Black owned businesses had the lowest percentage of survival rate for young employer establishments. Source: ABS, BED; Office of Advocacy calculations