99.9% or 33.2 million businesses in the United States are small businesses. Of these, 3.7 million businesses are microbusinesses with less than 10 employees.
On average, 4.7 million small businesses are started each year. However, only 25% of small businesses remain profitable for over 15 years.
In 2023, a record-breaking 5,481,437 new businesses were started.
Let us look at the latest facts and figures about small businesses worldwide and in the United States. You will also find information on small businesses’ success and failure rates and stats on small business finances, marketing, and technology usage.
Small Business Statistics: Top Picks (2024)
- There are around 400 million small businesses worldwide.
- 99.9% of the businesses in the United States are small businesses.
- 69% of small business owners finance their businesses through savings.
- Only 30% of businesses survive for over ten years.
- 20% of the new businesses fail within a year of establishment.
- 82% of the businesses fail due to poor cash flow.
- 49% of the small business have only 1 to 4 employees.
How Many Small Businesses Are There Worldwide?
1. There are around 400 million small businesses worldwide.
These small and medium-sized businesses make up 99% of the businesses worldwide and are the backbone of the economies.
According to Statista, there were 332.99 million small businesses worldwide in 2021.
Here is a list of the number of small businesses recorded worldwide over the years.
| Year | Number of Small Businesses |
| 2021 | 332.99 million |
| 2020 | 327.8 million |
| 2019 | 328.51 million |
| 2018 | 322.49 million |
| 2017 | 314.1 million |
| 2016 | 305.99 million |
| 2015 | 296.21 million |
| 2014 | 287.94 million |
| 2013 | 281.32 million |
| 2012 | 274.15 million |
Source: Luisa Zhou, Statista.
How Many Small Businesses Are There In The United States?
2. 99.9% of the businesses in the United States are small businesses.
That accounts for 33.2 million small businesses in the country. Of these, 43.2% are women-owned businesses.
Small businesses employ 61.7 million American citizens, accounting for 46.4% of the private sector’s employees. Hence, small businesses pay 39.4% of the private sector payroll.
Source: SBA’s Office of Advocacy.
How Many Small Businesses Are Successful?
3. Only 30% of the businesses are successful and can survive for over ten years.
Besides, 80% of small businesses are profitable in the first years of their launch. Hence, as time passes, it becomes difficult for companies to stay successful, and on average, just 3 in 10 small businesses manage to stay profitable in the long run.
Source: Luisa Zhou.
How Many Small Businesses Fail?
4. 20% of the new businesses fail within a year of establishment.
Meanwhile, 30% of the businesses fail within two years. Further, by the end of the 10th year, only 70% of small businesses will survive.
Here is a table displaying the share of businesses that fail within a few years of establishment.
| Years in Business | Failure Rate |
| 1 | 20% |
| 2 | 30% |
| 5 | 50% |
| 10 | 70% |
Source: Luisa Zhou.
5. 82% of the businesses fail due to poor cash flow.
Meanwhile, 40% of businesses fail due to insufficient demand for the product or service they offer.
Lastly, a significant share of businesses failed due to poor management.
Source: US Chamber of Commerce
General Small Business Statistics
6. 49% of the small business have only 1 to 4 employees.
These small businesses make up 9% of the small business revenue.
On the other hand, just 0.3% of businesses have between 250 and 499 employees, and they make up 15% of small business revenue.
Here is a table displaying the distribution of small businesses according to the number of employees.
| Number of Employees | Share of Small Businesses | Percentage of Small Business Revenue |
| No employees | 14% | 2% |
| 1 to 4 employees | 49% | 9% |
| 5 to 9 employees | 16% | 8% |
| 10 to 19 employees | 10% | 10% |
| 20 to 49 employees | 6% | 17% |
| 50 to 99 employees | 2% | 15% |
| 100 to 249 employees | 1% | 23% |
| 250 to 499 employees | 0.3% | 15% |
Source: Pew Research.
7. 27% of the businesses were family-owned businesses.
A vast majority, or three-fourths of the businesses, are not family-owned.
Besides, 10% of the small businesses in the United States were jointly owned and operated by spouses.
Another 11% of the small businesses in the country were also jointly owned by the spouses but operated separately. Men were more likely than women to serve the primary operations in these businesses.
Source: Pew Research.
Small Business Finance Statistics
8. 69% of small business owners finance their businesses through savings.
Meanwhile, 64% of the businesses finance their small business through credit cards, and 53% of the businesses take loans from banks or Credit Unions.
Source: US Chamber of Commerce.
9. Only 34% of the businesses applied for a loan in 2021.
The share of small businesses applying for a loan has declined over the past years.
In 2019, around 43% of small businesses applied for a loan, while in 2020, 37% of small businesses applied for a loan.
Source: Forbes.
10. 24.2% of small business owners used funds from the latest business loans to purchase items for their inventory.
Meanwhile, 42.4% of the businesses applied for loans for business expansion, and 29.4% stated that they needed the amount for equipment purchases.
Here is a table displaying the reasons that businesses gave for applying for business loans.
| Reason for applying for a loan | Percentage of Businesses |
| Business expansion | 42.4% |
| Equipment purchases | 29.4% |
| Marketing and advertising | 28.6% |
| Business Franchising | 27.6% |
| commercial real estate purchases/remodeling | 26.8% |
| Business acquisitions | 25.4% |
| Inventory purchases | 24.2% |
| Cash flow for everyday operations | 22.4% |
| Payroll expenses | 21.8% |
| Debt consolidation/refinancing | 18.6% |
| Startup Costs | 18.2% |
Source: Forbes.
11. Small business owners stated that email marketing provided them with the highest returns.
Meanwhile, Facebook provided the second-highest returns on the investments.
The channels with the lowest investment returns were Snapchat, SMS marketing, and more.
Here are further details about the channels that provided small businesses with the highest returns on investments according to rank.
- Email marketing
- Direct mail
- Traditional Marketing
- Content Marketing
- Digital Paid media marketing
- SEO Marketing
- SMS marketing
- Snapchat
Source: Campaign Monitor.
Small Business Owner Statistics
12. 61% of the small businesses in the United States were owned by Men in 2021.
Besides, 22% of the businesses were owned by Women.
On the other hand, 14% of the businesses were equally owned and operated by men and women.
Source: Pew Research.
13. Whites owned 85% of the small businesses in the United States.
Meanwhile, 11% of the small businesses in the country belonged to Asian Americans, and just 1% of the small business owners were American Indian and Alaska Native, or Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders.
Here is a table displaying the distribution of small business owners by race:
| Race | Percentage of Small Business Owners |
| White | 85% |
| Asian Americans | 11% |
| Hispanic | 7% |
| Black or African American | 3% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native, or Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander | 1% |
Source: Pew Research.
14. 47% of the small business owners are GenX.
GenX and Boomers own most businesses in the United States. Meanwhile, just 3 in 20 small businesses are owned by Millennials.
40% of the small business owners are Boomers, and 13% are Millenials.
Source: Forbes.
15. On average, small business owners earn just 16% above the annual mean wage in the United States.
Small business owners earn an average salary of just $69,119.
At a minimum, small business owners earn $32,000, while on the highest end, small business owners earn an average salary of $147,000.
Source: Forbes.
Small Business Marketing Statistics
16. 69.6% of small businesses use Facebook for marketing.
At the same time, 64.1% of small businesses use email marketing and 42.8% of small business owners utilize paid search for marketing their products and services.
Here is a table displaying the channels that most small businesses use for marketing.
| Marketing Channel | Percentage of Marketers |
| 69.6% | |
| Email marketing | 64.1% |
| Direct mail | 52.4% |
| 48.3% | |
| 47% | |
| Print Ads | 45.7% |
| Paid Search | 42.8% |
| Snapchat | 27.3% |
| Billboards | 24.5% |
| Pandora/Spotify | 23.6% |
| Podcast Programming | 18.8% |
| Podcast advertising | 18.5% |
Source: Campaign Monitor.
17. The majority of businesses, around 71.8%, use email for regular customer communication.
At the same time, 60.8% of businesses used Facebook to regularly communicate with their consumers.
Only 31% of the companies use company blogs to communicate with their consumers.
Here is a table displaying the channels of communication used by small businesses to communicate with their consumers regularly.
| Communication Channel | Percentage of Marketers |
| 71.8% | |
| 60.8% | |
| Telephone | 55.8% |
| Direct mail | 47.6% |
| 39.9% | |
| 39.8% | |
| SMS marketing | 33.3% |
| Web chat | 31.3% |
| Company Blogs | 31% |
Source: Campaign Monitor.
Technology Usage By Small Businesses
18. 95% of small businesses use at least one technology platform.
Social media and digital payment technology platforms are the technologies most used by small businesses in the United States.
87% of small businesses used social media technology, while 41% used point-of-sales tools.
Further, in 2023, 61% of small businesses will use technology for marketing and promotions, and 57% of marketers will use technology to process sales.
The following table displays the technology usage by small businesses in different fields as of 2023 and 2022.
| Fields with Technology Usage | Percentage of small businesses in 2023 | Percentage of small businesses in 2022 |
| Marketing/promotions | 61% | 53% |
| Processing Sales | 57% | 51% |
| Communicating with customers/prospects | 56% | 49% |
| Payroll management | 54% | 45% |
| Accounting | 53% | 51% |
| Managing customer relationships | 52% | 43% |
| Identifying potential customers | 41% | 36% |
| Accessing and managing credit and cash flow | 38% | 34% |
| Managing inventory | 37% | 35% |
| Developing customer insights | 33% | 27% |
| Identifying / recruiting talent | 30% | 24% |
| Processing returns | 29% | 21% |
| Preventing fraud / knowing my business partner | 27% | 23% |
| Managing supply chain challenges | 26% | 19% |
| Finding lower-cost suppliers to manage inflation | 24% | 20% |
| Other | 2% | 3% |
Source: US Chamber of Commerce.
19. 1 in 4 of the small businesses have adopted over 6 technology platforms for their business operations.
At the same time, 31% of the small businesses stated that they had adopted a 0 to 1 platform.
Around 14% of small businesses said they had adopted between 4 and 5 technology platforms by 2023.
Here is a table displaying the adoption level of the technology platform by small businesses in 2023 and 2022.
| Number of Technology platforms adopted | Share of small businesses in 2023 | Share of small businesses in 2022 |
| 0 to 1 platform | 31% | 25% |
| 2 to 3 platform | 31% | 36% |
| 4 to 5 platform | 14% | 26% |
| Over 6 platform | 25% | 14% |
Source: US Chamber of Commerce.
20. 23% of the small businesses in the United States used AI platforms.
56% of small businesses used AI for marketing and promotions, while 42% used AI for communicating with their customers and prospective customers.
Conversely, just 13% of small businesses used AI to find lower-cost suppliers to manage inflation.
The following table displays the usage of AI by small businesses in different fields.
| Field/ Operations | Percentage of Small Businesses |
| Marketing/Promotions | 56% |
| Communicating with my customers and prospective customers | 42% |
| Identifying potential customers | 36% |
| Managing inventory | 33% |
| Developing customer insights | 32% |
| Managing customer relationships | 28% |
| Processing sales | 28% |
| Preventing fraud and knowing who I’m doing business with | 26% |
| Processing returns | 21% |
| Accounting | 21% |
| Payroll management | 20% |
| Identifying / Recruiting Talent | 19% |
| Accessing and managing credit and cash flow | 19% |
| Managing supply chain challenges | 18% |
| Finding lower-cost suppliers to manage inflation | 13% |
Source: US Chamber of Commerce.
Challenges Faced By Small Businesses
21. 54% of the small business owners stated that inflation is their top challenge in 2023.
In contrast, 22% of the small businesses stated revenue as their top challenge, and 21% of the businesses cited supply chain as the top concern.
Here is a table displaying the top challenges small business owners face in the United States.
| Top Challenge | Percentage of Businesses |
| Inflation | 54% |
| revenue | 22% |
| supply chain issues | 21% |
| rising interest rates | 16% |
| COVID-19 safety protocols | 9% |
Source: US Chamber of Commerce.
Conclusion: 64% Of The New Jobs Are Created By The Small Businesses In The United States
On average, small businesses create around 1.5 million jobs every year, accounting for around two-thirds of the jobs in the country.
These small businesses make up the majority of the country’s economy.
Food and restaurants, as well as business services, are the fastest-growing small businesses in the United States.
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