--- url: 'https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/founder-your-trades-own-list/' title: 'Health Insurance Ranks No. 1 in All Nine of NFIB’s Industry Groups. Cost of Supplies: 2nd in Retail, 45th in Finance' author: name: Samantha Lankford url: 'https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/author/sam/' date: '2026-10-25T15:30:00-04:00' modified: '2026-10-25T15:30:00-04:00' type: post summary: 'NFIB''s 2024 survey: health insurance ranked first in every industry group. Below it the lists split. Cost of supplies: 2nd in retail, 45th in finance.' categories: - Blog Post image: 'https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/founder-your-trades-own-list-hero.webp' published: true --- # Health Insurance Ranks No. 1 in All Nine of NFIB’s Industry Groups. Cost of Supplies: 2nd in Retail, 45th in Finance ![The Lonely Entrepreneur](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/TLE_Logo_mobile-490W-26-26.png)Founder Data Report ![Health Insurance Ranks No. 1 in All Nine of NFIB's Industry Groups. Cost of Supplies: 2nd in Retail, 45th in Finance](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/founder-your-trades-own-list-hero.webp) Founder Data Report # Health Insurance Ranks No. 1 in All Nine of NFIB’s Industry Groups. Cost of Supplies: 2nd in Retail, 45th in Finance By Michael Dermer • Updated October 25, 2026 Join us Fridays at 12 PM ET to ask TLE CEO Michael Dermer your questions live. [Join the CEO Call →](https://shorturl.at/364XX) Owners in every trade put the same problem at the top of NFIB’s list. A few places down, the list starts to look like the business you are in. Quick Answer In NFIB’s 2024 Small Business Problems & Priorities survey, owners in all nine industry groups ranked the **cost of health insurance** first out of 75 problems. Economic uncertainty and federal taxes on business income made the top 10 in every group too. Below that the lists split by trade: the **cost of supplies and inventories** ranked 2nd in retail and 45th in finance, insurance and real estate, and **locating qualified employees** ranked 2nd in construction and 23rd in agriculture. The 30-second version - The cost of health insurance ranked No. 1 in all nine industry groups NFIB reports. - Only three problems made the top 10 in every group: health insurance, uncertainty over economic conditions, and federal taxes on business income. - Cost of supplies and inventories: 2nd in retail, 45th in finance, insurance and real estate. - Locating qualified employees: 2nd in construction and in the professional, technical, education and health group; 23rd in agriculture. - Competition from internet businesses: 16th in retail, 71st in construction. ## The same problem on top, everywhere NFIB, the small-business association, asks member owners to rate 75 possible problems on a scale from 1, a critical problem, to 7, not a problem, and ranks them by the average score. The 2024 edition drew 2,873 usable responses, and its Table 7 splits them into nine industry groups. In every one, the cost of health insurance came out first. Between 38.9% and 42.1% of owners in the seven larger groups rated it critical. Its lead is narrower than the ranking makes it look, though: in each group, the No. 2 problem sits close enough that NFIB’s numbers cannot clearly separate the two. Two more problems made the top 10 in all nine groups: **uncertainty over economic conditions** and **federal taxes on business income**. That is the shared core. Our earlier look at NFIB’s rankings in every edition since 1986 found a similar core over time, with state taxes in place of economic uncertainty. ## Where the trades split Further down, the same problem can sit near the top of one trade’s list and near the bottom of another’s. Among the seven groups large enough to compare, the **cost of supplies and inventories** ranked 2nd in retail, and also in the admin support, arts, hospitality, food and other services group, but 45th in finance, insurance and real estate. **Credit card payment processing costs** ranked 5th in retail and 51st in finance. **Environmental regulations** ranked 13th in agriculture, forestry and fishing and 67th in the professional, technical, education and health group. **Competition from internet businesses** ranked 16th in retail and 71st in construction. Each of those gaps clears the margin we apply to NFIB’s figures. The Data Six problems, highest and lowest rank across seven industry groups, NFIB 2024 Cost of Supplies/Inventories- Retail: 2ndFinance: 45thLocating Qualified EmployeesConstruction: 2ndAgriculture: 23rdCost of fuel (natural gas, propane, gasoline, diesel, fuel oil)Agriculture: 2ndProfessional: 21stCredit Card Payment Processing CostsRetail: 5thFinance: 51stEnvironmental Regulations (e.g., EPA)Agriculture: 13thProfessional: 67thCompetition from Internet BusinessesRetail: 16thConstruction: 71st Highest rank among seven industry groupsLowest rank Rank out of 75 within each industry group; further left is ranked as a bigger problem. The seven groups with 150 or more respondents. Wholesale (76) and transportation (77) are left out as too small to compare. For all six, the two groups’ average scores separate. NFIB Research Center, Small Business Problems & Priorities, 2024 (11th edition), Table 7: measures of small business problem importance by industry. Retrieved from nfib.com on October 13, 2026. > The top of the list is shared. A few places down, it is your trade’s. ## Finding people depends on the work **Locating qualified employees** ranked 2nd in construction and in the professional, technical, education and health group, where 35.4% and 35.0% of owners rated it critical. In agriculture, forestry and fishing it ranked 23rd, rated critical by 20.0%. Construction’s share is clear of agriculture’s, retail’s and finance’s; it is level with the professional group and manufacturing. The Data Share of owners rating ‘locating qualified employees’ a critical problem, by industry group ConstructionRanked 2nd of 7535.4%Professional, technical,education, healthRanked 2nd of 7535.0%ManufacturingRanked 3rd of 7531.5%Admin support, arts,hospitality, food, otherservicesRanked 3rd of 7529.7%RetailRanked 8th of 7523.5%Finance, insurance, realestateRanked 10th of 7521.5%Agriculture, forestry,fishingRanked 23rd of 7520.0% NFIB members, 2024. Orange: the two groups that ranked it 2nd. Rank out of 75 under each bar. Bars share one scale, 0 to 40%. Wholesale and transportation not shown (under 80 respondents each). NFIB ranks by average score, so rank and share critical can order the groups differently. NFIB Research Center, Small Business Problems & Priorities, 2024 (11th edition), Table 7: measures of small business problem importance by industry. Retrieved from nfib.com on October 13, 2026. ## What it costs to stock the shelves The cost of supplies and inventories splits differently. In agriculture, forestry and fishing 25.1% of owners rated it critical, and it ranked 3rd. In finance, insurance and real estate, 7.3% did, and it ranked 45th. On average scores, finance’s rating is clear of all six other groups; on the share rating it critical, it is clear of five, all but the professional group at 13.6%. The Data Share of owners rating ‘cost of supplies/inventories’ a critical problem, by industry group Agriculture, forestry,fishingRanked 3rd of 7525.1%Admin support, arts,hospitality, food, otherservicesRanked 2nd of 7523.1%ConstructionRanked 4th of 7522.2%RetailRanked 2nd of 7519.2%ManufacturingRanked 4th of 7518.2%Professional, technical,education, healthRanked 15th of 7513.6%Finance, insurance, realestateRanked 45th of 757.3% NFIB members, 2024. Orange: finance, insurance and real estate. Rank out of 75 under each bar. Bars share one scale, 0 to 30%. NFIB ranks by average score, so rank and share critical can order the groups differently. NFIB Research Center, Small Business Problems & Priorities, 2024 (11th edition), Table 7: measures of small business problem importance by industry. Retrieved from nfib.com on October 13, 2026. ## What to take from this if you run a small one National lists of owners’ top problems are mostly the shared core: health insurance, taxes, the economy. They are real, and they are the same for nearly everyone. The problems particular to your trade sit a few rungs lower, and they are the ones worth comparing notes on with owners in your own industry. When you set the year’s priorities, write down the three problems that would rank high in your trade and low in most others, and put at least one of them on the list next to the big shared ones. Three limits worth holding. These are **rankings**, so they show which problems owners rate as worse than others, not how bad any one is in absolute terms. The respondents are **NFIB members**, not every small business, and NFIB publishes no margins of error; the separation test here is our own, applied to NFIB’s averages. And the industry groups are **broad**: a dentist and a law firm sit in the same professional group. The Data Where the numbers land 9 of 9 industry groups ranked the cost of health insurance as the No. 1 problem 3 problems made the top 10 in all nine groups 2nd / 45th rank of the cost of supplies and inventories in retail and in finance, insurance and real estate 35.4% of construction owners rated locating qualified employees critical NFIB Research Center, Small Business Problems & Priorities, 2024, Table 7. ## Frequently Asked Questions What is the biggest problem for small business owners in each industry? In NFIB's 2024 Small Business Problems & Priorities survey, the cost of health insurance ranked first in all nine industry groups. In each group the second-ranked problem was close behind. Which small business problems differ most by industry? Among them: the cost of supplies and inventories (2nd in retail, 45th in finance, insurance and real estate), credit card processing costs (5th in retail, 51st in finance), environmental regulations (13th in agriculture, 67th in the professional, technical, education and health group) and competition from internet businesses (16th in retail, 71st in construction). Is finding workers a bigger problem in construction? In NFIB's 2024 survey, locating qualified employees ranked 2nd of 75 among construction owners, and 35.4% rated it critical, against 20.0% in agriculture, forestry and fishing. Which problems rank in the top 10 in every industry? Three: the cost of health insurance, uncertainty over economic conditions, and federal taxes on business income. Where does the data come from? NFIB Research Center, Small Business Problems & Priorities, 2024 (11th edition), Table 7. 2,873 NFIB member owners returned usable questionnaires; 2,398 are placed in an industry group. Keep reading [Three Problems Made Small-Business Owners’ Top 10 in Every NFIB Survey From 1986 to 2024. Health Insurance Was First Each Time](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/founder-the-three-that-stayed/) - [Owners With 1 to 4 Employees Rank Managing Them 61st of 75 Problems. At 20 to 49, It Ranks 9th.](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/founder-the-problem-you-hire-into/) - [Owners Whose Sales Fell 10% or More a Year Rank Finding Qualified Staff 13th. Owners Growing 10–24% Rank It 3rd.](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/founder-the-list-that-moves/) Part of the entrepreneurial struggle: [Priority Problem](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/entrepreneur-struggle/priorities/) ![The Lonely Entrepreneur](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/TLE_Logo_mobile-490W-26-26.png) Published by **The Lonely Entrepreneur** — the community and coaching platform for entrepreneurs who are building alone. [lonelyentrepreneur.com](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/) This article is for educational purposes and is not a substitute for professional financial or legal advice.