5.4% of American Employer Businesses Have Been Open Since Before 1978. They Hold 38.1% of the Jobs.
300,280 US employer businesses have been open since before 1978. They employ 52,332,869 people — more than the 4,433,985 that are under twenty-six.
The Average American Workplace That Closed Last Year Had Five People on Its Payroll. In Restaurants, Nine.
2,686,413 people were on the payroll of the 533,856 US workplaces that closed in the year to March 2023. That is 5.03 each — and 8.95 in restaurants.
A Third of American Employer Businesses Pay People Who Are Not on Their Payroll. Almost One in Five Has No Full-Time Employee.
32.4% of the 2.91M US employer businesses answering Census use contractors, 50.1% use part-timers, and 18.4% have no full-time employee.
Six in Ten American Employer Businesses Have Exactly One Owner. The Average One Has Eight Employees.
61.0% of the 2.92M US employer businesses that answered the Census owner-count question have exactly one owner, and the average one has 8.3 employees.
Half the People Who Own America’s Employer Businesses Are 55 or Older. For Seven in Ten, It Is the Only Paycheck.
Census counted 4.21M owners of U.S. employer businesses: 51.3% are 55 or older, 5.7% under 35, and 72% call the business their primary income.
Only 16% of U.S. Business Owners Studied Management. The Other Five in Six Are Doing the Job Anyway.
Census asked 4.24M U.S. employer-business owners what they studied: 16.3% hold a management degree. In health care 88.6% have degrees, 5.6% in management.
Half of America’s Employer Businesses Sell Under $500,000 a Year. They Average Two People.
3,446,110 of America's 6,395,635 employer businesses sell under $500,000 a year and average 2.1 employees. Crossing half a million in sales is where the…
Business Applications Have More Than Doubled Since 2005. The Number That Become Employers Has Not Moved.
5,390,816 Americans filed to start a business in 2021 and 403,072 of those filings had hired someone two years later — fewer than in 2005, from less…
C-Corporations Are 14% of American Employers and Hold 60% of the Second Locations
C-corporations are 14.0% of American employer firms and hold 60.4% of all extra business locations. Under five employees, every legal form runs almost…
84,523 Dental Practices Have Grown Past Four People. 544 Have Reached Fifty.
Of the 84,523 U.S. dental practices with five or more people, 544 have reached fifty. In 31 of America’s 182 largest trades, under 2% of the non-tiny…
36.6% of Business Owners Still Own the Business They Ran Before This One. Only 8.4% Had One That Closed.
36.6% of the owners of America’s employer firms still own an earlier business; 8.4% had one close. And 48.7% have never run a business before this one.
946,590 Workplaces Opened Outside America’s Metros in 28 Years. 947,046 Closed.
Outside America’s metro areas, 946,590 workplaces opened between 1996 and 2023 and 947,046 closed. The closing rate is the lower of the two Americas.
Owners Say They Do It for the Money and to Be Their Own Boss — and the Two Are Tied. Only 6.8% Are Here Because They Could Not Find a Job.
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.
Four in Five Professional-Services Workplaces Run on Fewer Than Five People. In Restaurants It Is Fewer Than One in Three.
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.
Four-Person Firms and Forty-Person Firms Call Themselves Excellent at the Same Rate. The Gap Is All at the Bottom.
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…
A Four-Person Firm Almost Always Knows What It Is Doing Today. Six Months Out, One in Four Does Not.
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.
Surviving Twenty-Six Years Cuts Your Odds of Closing by 61%. In Health Care It Cuts Them by 35%.
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.
Half the Businesses That Closed Last Year Had Been Open Six Years or More
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.
More Than a Third of the New Solo Businesses of the Last Decade Drive or Deliver
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.
Ten Years Ago, Three in Four Solo Businesses Made Money. Now It’s Just Over Two in Three.
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.
Montana Is a Small-Business State in 18 of Its 19 Industries. Its Industry Mix Explains Only a Sixth of It.
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.
98.6% of America’s Small Employers Operate in Exactly One State — and It Takes 300 Employees to Change That
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.
A Job at a Small Company Pays 74 Cents on the Big-Company Dollar. In Washington State It Is 60 Cents.
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.
Two Thirds of Montana’s Private-Sector Jobs Are at Companies With Fewer Than 500 People. In Florida It Is Two Fifths.
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.
In Retail, Nearly One Workplace in Three Belongs to a Company With 500 or More Employees. In Construction It Is One in 65.
31.3% of U.S. retail workplaces belong to firms with 500+ employees. In construction it is 1.5% — a 20-fold difference.