Fed survey data: at the smallest firms, the owner's own money was the most common answer to a cash squeeze. From 20 employees up, cash reserves came first.
Census data on firms by the size they started at: those that opened with one to four employees close more often at every age, even 26 years in.
NFIB's 2024 survey split by sales trend: when sales fall, money problems climb the list and hiring drops ten places. About as many still call it critical.
Census hiring data by firm age: at the youngest firms most hires fill new jobs. At firms 11 years and older, about two in three refill a seat someone left.
Census asked employers what happened to under-performing staff. The smallest firms left them in place almost twice as often as firms of 20 to 49.
BLS household survey: in the 2020 shock, wage jobs fell hard while the self-employed count barely moved. In 2008 it went the other way, and took a decade.
Fed survey data on the lender after the yes: big banks satisfy their larger small-business borrowers far more often. Online lenders satisfy about a third.
Across 21 manufacturing trades, Census's structured-management score runs from 0.366 to 0.642. By state, 39 of 50 sit level with the nation.
NFIB asked 2,873 owners to rate 75 problems. Managing employees sits near the bottom for the smallest firms and climbs into the top ten by 20 staff.
Census data, 2024: at firms 0–1 years old, 13.6% of settled workers’ jobs ended each quarter. At firms 11+ years old, 8.3%. Most of the gap is jobs cut.
Census asked U.S. employers how many KPIs they tracked. At firms with 1–4 employees, 72.4% said none. At firms with 500 or more staff: 18.4%.
Census data, 2013–2022: at firms that began the year with 1–4 employees, 63% of lost jobs went when a workplace closed. At 5–9 employees: 37%.
Fed survey: 58% of firms with 1–4 employees named reaching customers as a challenge, 37% named staff. At 50–499 employees, staff led at 64%.
In Census's 2021 management survey, 55.1% of manufacturing plants rarely or never moved an underperforming manager. For other staff: 44.6%.
Across 21 Census survey rounds, 17.6% of accommodation and food service businesses reported weather losses. Professional services: 3.1%.
Florida holds 10.2% of America's no-employee businesses and added 19.9% of the 2024 increase. Add Texas and it is a third of all the growth.
The number of sole proprietorship returns reporting a profit fell 91,950 in 2020 and was back above 2019 a year later. In 2023 it fell 555,991.
Employer firms aged one to five closed at 15.4% a year in 1983-87 and 12.2% in 2015-19. Every single year of age improved, the first year included.
At workplaces under 10 staff, the monthly quit rate fell to 1.77% in 2025, the lowest since at least 2016. January to August 2026 is lower again.
Census asked employers what limits remote work. Finance named security most, at 10.3%. In every trade, the firms saying it are bigger than average.
Census state data shows the share of business filings naming a date to pay wages fell from 2005 to 2025 in all 50 and DC. The median: 36.2% to 9.2%.
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In retail, restaurants, manufacturing and four other trades, more owners call their stock too small than too big, in all 76 Census rounds since 2023.
The Census count of businesses with no employees rose by 1.56 million in 2024, to 32 million. Sixteen of 18 sectors grew, and not only the drivers.
In March and April 2020, workplaces under 50 people made 53% of the layoffs. The smallest then made up about half of theirs in extra hiring by December.
