62.1% of US employer-firm owners call greater income a very important reason for owning their business; 61.5% say being their own boss. Only 6.8% could not find a job.
79.9% of professional-services workplaces have fewer than five people on the payroll. In accommodation and food services it is 32.0% — a 2.5x gap.
14.3% of firms with 1-4 employees rate their performance excellent; at 20-49 employees it is 14.5%. But 20.8% rate themselves below average or poor…
8.5% of firms with 1-4 employees cannot say whether they used AI this fortnight. Asked about six months out, 24.8% cannot — a bigger jump than any larger firm reports.
Reaching 26 years cuts a firm's annual odds of closing by 61% in the median US industry, 77% in transportation and warehousing and 35% in health care — which has the safest first five years of all.
50.7% of the 523,958 US employer firms that closed in 2023 had been open six years or more. The annual closure rate falls from 21.0% to 9.7% in five years, then only to 6.3% in twenty-one more.
2.44 million of the 7.05 million net new US sole proprietorships since 2013 drive or deliver. Their average real net income per return fell from $9,840 to $1,693.
74.6% of US sole proprietorships reported a profit in 2013. In 2023, 68.8% did. Industry mix pushed the number up; the fall happened inside 15 of 18 industries.
Industry mix explains 23% of why state small-business shares differ. In 39 of 51 jurisdictions the bigger factor is the same industries being run at a smaller scale.
At least 98.6% of U.S. employer firms with fewer than 500 employees operate in exactly one state. The average firm does not reach two states until 300 employees.
Firms under 500 employees pay $55,663 a year per employee; firms of 500+ pay $74,832. That is 74.4 cents on the dollar, and a $19,169 gap.
45.9% of U.S. private-sector jobs are at firms with fewer than 500 employees. By state it runs from 66.3% in Montana to 39.6% in Florida.
31.3% of U.S. retail workplaces belong to firms with 500+ employees. In construction it is 1.5% — a 20-fold difference.
The U.S. has 8,298,562 employer workplaces but only 6,395,635 employer companies. 22.9% of workplaces are not their company's first location.
The average American now checks their phone 186 times a day, and 85% reach for it within ten minutes of waking. For a founder, the phone isn't a distractio
The S corporation is the most common employer form in 15 of 19 industries, peaking at 66.4% in construction. Four industries break the pattern.
51.4% of U.S. for-profit employers are S corporations - more than every other form combined. But C corporations hold 50.2% of the jobs.
The share of U.S. private workplaces with fewer than five people rose from 62.1% to 67.1% between 2017 and 2025, rising in every single year.
67.1% of U.S. private workplaces employ fewer than five people, and 89.7% employ fewer than twenty — but the under-five group holds only 8.0% of private-sector jobs.
Across 2024-2025 each establishment that opened added 1.62 jobs. In 19 of the 20 years since 2006 that figure sat between 1.57 and 1.76. Only 2020 broke the band.
79.1% of private-sector jobs added last quarter came from existing establishments that expanded - only 20.9% from new openings.
35.8% of firms with 1-4 employees say supplier delivery times do not apply to them. Of those it does apply to, 10.3% saw waits lengthen vs 5.2% at 250+.
Census asked every firm size the same question: 83.7% of firms with 1-4 employees expect no change in headcount in six months. At 250+ employees, 55.5%.
Census asks every business size the same question. Firms with 1-4 employees answered revenue down more often than up in all 74 fortnights on record.
Across 74 fortnights of Census data, more US businesses cut hours than cut staff in every one. Each January the gap triples and headcount holds.
