Sole proprietorships deducted $150.2bn for cars and trucks in 2023 against $121.8bn for salaries and wages. Where a Schedule C dollar really goes.
IRS data on 31.1 million US sole proprietorships: average receipts $66,285, average net income $12,119, and 31.2% reported no profit at all.
Of small businesses that carry stock, 31.8% hold less than they need, against 6.7% at the largest firms. And they do not expect that to change.
Census data: small-business weather losses peak every January, three years running, and the cause flips with the season. Snow in winter, heat in August.
Census data: 25.5% of businesses say rates cut profits, at every size alike. But 1-4 person firms are 3.3x likelier to say rates stopped them investing.
Federal data says employers with 1-9 staff have the lowest quit rate in the economy. It peaks at 50-249, about 62% higher. Turnover arrives with growth.
The IRS estimates a small S corporation return takes 50 hours and $4,200 - before you owe a dollar. Its own figure, printed in the form instructions.
Business applications hit a record 578,926 in July 2026. Only 6.9% named a date they would start paying wages - down from 35.5% in 2005.
In 2026, 59% of freelancers report income that swings from month to month — and for founders, there's no employer to smooth the drop. The result: 68% lose
Nearly half of small-business owners plan to exit within five years — yet only 20–30% of businesses that go to market ever sell, and about 1 in 3 owners ha
In 2026, 78.4% of U.S. businesses have zero employees — just the owner. If you get the flu, break an arm, or need a week for a family emergency, revenue do
When you left your job to build your own thing, you didn't just walk away from a salary. You walked away from the ~30% of it your employer was quietly payi
KFF 2025: family premiums are close at small and large firms ($26,054 vs $27,280) - but the worker's own share is $8,889 against $6,227.
37% of firms with 250+ employees use AI. For firms with four or fewer, Census puts it under 20% - and that number stopped moving while larger firms rose.
The Fed asked 6,500+ small employers what they did when imported input prices rose: 76% passed the cost on, 60% absorbed it, only 13% changed supplier.
In July 2026, 27% of owners named labor quality their single most important problem, up 8 points in a month. In June the top answer was inflation.
The moment a single client represents too much of your income, everything changes. You can't raise your rates. You can't push back on scope creep. You can'
The average boss has 3.6 blind spots their team sees clearly — and even when told directly, 84% never change. At the top it's worse: C-suite leaders are 77
Harvard research found 65% of high-potential startups fail because of conflict between co-founders — not the market, not the money, the people. And when a
Corporate employees take about 10 days off a year. Small business owners? 61% take just five — and even then, 67% check in with work every single day. Only
A discount comes out of the margin, not the price. At retail's 31.6% gross margin, a 10% discount needs 46% more volume just to break even.
Across 6.4 million US small firms payroll averages 19.5% of receipts - but runs 6.3% to 39.7% by industry. Why the 15-30% rule of thumb fits almost nobody.
BLS puts wages at $27.68 an hour and total compensation at $37.36 at businesses with 1-49 workers — a multiplier of about 1.35x. The largest single add-on is not health insurance. It is the legally required cost you never chose.
Median days on market ran from 151 days for route businesses to 412 for laundromats in BizBuySell's full-year 2025 data. What the Q2 2026 Insight Report says about why deals stall — and the preparation clock that runs before the listing clock starts.
The benchmark everyone quotes comes from 5,994 listed corporations. You are not one of them, and comparing yourself to them will make a healthy business lo
