Annual Business Survey (ABS) APIs

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Annual Business Survey (ABS) APIs

The Annual Business Survey (ABS) and the Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) Survey are being combined to increase data quality, reduce respondent burden, and to allow the Census Bureau to operate more efficiently. This year's ABS will be mailed in May 2026. Starting with this collection, the ABS will be referred to by its reference year instead of collection year. For example, the ABS being fielded in 2026 will be referred to as 2025 ABS. This name change will better align the ABS with other products like the Nonemployer Statistics by Demographics. Prior ABS data releases will not have the year and name change. 

The Annual Business Survey (ABS) provides information on selected economic and demographic characteristics for businesses and business owners by sex, ethnicity, race, and veteran status. The ABS replaces the five-year Survey of Business Owners (SBO) for employer businesses, the Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs (ASE), the Business R&D and Innovation for Microbusinesses survey (BRDI-M), and the innovation section of the Business R&D and Innovation Survey (BRDI-S).

2019-2022 ABS estimates are available on select economic and demographic characteristics of employer businesses and their owners by sector, sex, ethnicity, race, and veteran status for the nation, states, and metro areas. For the 2018 and 2023 ABS, estimates are also available for counties, and economic places. For the 2024 ABS, estimates are also available for counties.

Datasets include:

  • Company Summary. Provides data for employer businesses by sector, sex, ethnicity, race, veteran status, years in business, receipts size of firm, and employment size of firm. Urban and rural classification of firms are available for 2021-2024.
  • Characteristics of Businesses. Provides data for respondent employer firms by sector, sex, ethnicity, race, veteran status, years in business, receipts size of firm, and employment size of firm, including detailed business characteristics. Urban and rural classification of firms are available for 2021-2024.
  • Characteristics of Business Owners. Provides data for owners of respondent employer firms by sector, sex, ethnicity, race, and veteran status, including detailed owner characteristics.
  • Module Business Characteristics. Newly introduced in 2021, provides data for respondent employer firms by sector, sex, ethnicity, race, veteran status, years in business, receipts size of firm, and employment size of firm, including unique business characteristics such as types of technology used by the business, financing practices of the business, and the effect of the Coronavirus Pandemic on the business. Urban and rural classification of firms are available for 2021-2024.

Read more information about the ABS at www.census.gov/programs-surveys/abs/about.html.

For a complete description of the ABS methodology, please visit www.census.gov/programs-surveys/abs/technical-documentation/methodology.html

2024
  • 2024
  • 2023
  • 2022
  • 2021
  • 2020
  • 2019
  • 2018

2024

The 2024 ABS asked questions on selected economic and demographic characteristics for businesses and business owners by sex, ethnicity, race, and veteran status. Data were also collected on R&D (for businesses with 1-9 employees), manufacturing, management practices, and financing. The 2024 ABS covers data for reference year 2023.

Company Summary

http://api.census.gov/data/2023/abscs?get=GEO_ID,NAME,NAICS2022,NAICS2022_LABEL,SEX,SEX_LABEL,ETH_GROUP,ETH_GROUP_LABEL,RACE_GROUP,RACE_GROUP_LABEL,VET_GROUP,VET_GROUP_LABEL,EMPSZFI,EMPSZFI_LABEL,YEAR,FIRMPDEMP,FIRMPDEMP_F,RCPPDEMP,RCPPDEMP_F,EMP,EMP_F,PAYANN,PAYANN_F,FIRMPDEMP_S,FIRMPDEMP_S_F,RCPPDEMP_S,RCPPDEMP_S_F,EMP_S,EMP_S_F,PAYANN_S,PAYANN_S_F&for=us:*&key=YOUR_KEY_GOES_HERE

For detailed information about the values available, please see “Technical Information for ABS API – Company Summary” at census.gov/programs-surveys/abs/technical-documentation/api.html

Characteristics of Businesses

api.census.gov/data/2023/abscb?get=GEO_ID,NAME,NAICS2022,NAICS2022_LABEL,SEX,SEX_LABEL,ETH_GROUP,ETH_GROUP_LABEL,RACE_GROUP,RACE_GROUP_LABEL,VET_GROUP,VET_GROUP_LABEL,QDESC,QDESC_LABEL,BUSCHAR,BUSCHAR_LABEL,YEAR,FIRMPDEMP,FIRMPDEMP_F,FIRMPDEMP_PCT,FIRMPDEMP_PCT_F,RCPPDEMP,RCPPDEMP_F,RCPPDEMP_PCT,RCPPDEMP_PCT_F,EMP,EMP_F,EMP_PCT,EMP_PCT_F,PAYANN,PAYANN_F,PAYANN_PCT,PAYANN_PCT_F,FIRMPDEMP_S,FIRMPDEMP_S_F,FIRMPDEMP_PCT_S,FIRMPDEMP_PCT_S_F,RCPPDEMP_S,RCPPDEMP_S_F,RCPPDEMP_PCT_S,RCPPDEMP_PCT_S_F,EMP_S,EMP_S_F,EMP_PCT_S,EMP_PCT_S_F,PAYANN_S,PAYANN_S_F,PAYANN_PCT_S,PAYANN_PCT_S_F&for=us:*&QDESC_LABEL=SPOUSES&key=YOUR_KEY_GOES_HERE

For detailed information about the values available, please see “Technical Information for ABS API – Characteristics of Businesses” at census.gov/programs-surveys/abs/technical-documentation/api.html

Characteristics of Business Owners

api.census.gov/data/2023/abscbo?get=GEO_ID,NAME,NAICS2022,NAICS2022_LABEL,OWNER_SEX,OWNER_SEX_LABEL,OWNER_ETH,OWNER_ETH_LABEL,OWNER_RACE,OWNER_RACE_LABEL,OWNER_VET,OWNER_VET_LABEL,QDESC,QDESC_LABEL,OWNCHAR,OWNCHAR_LABEL,YEAR,OWNPDEMP,OWNPDEMP_F,OWNPDEMP_PCT,OWNPDEMP_PCT_F,OWNPDEMP_S,OWNPDEMP_S_F,OWNPDEMP_PCT_S,OWNPDEMP_PCT_S_F&for=us:*&QDESC_LABEL=YRACQBUS&key=YOUR_KEY_GOES_HERE

For detailed information about the values available, please see “Technical Information for ABS API – Characteristics of Business Owners” at census.gov/programs-surveys/abs/technical-documentation/api.html

Module Business Characteristics

api.census.gov/data/2023/absmcb?get=GEO_ID,NAME,NAICS2022,NAICS2022_LABEL,SEX,SEX_LABEL,ETH_GROUP,ETH_GROUP_LABEL,RACE_GROUP,RACE_GROUP_LABEL,VET_GROUP,VET_GROUP_LABEL,QDESC,QDESC_LABEL,BUSCHAR,BUSCHAR_LABEL,YEAR,FIRMPDEMP,FIRMPDEMP_F,FIRMPDEMP_PCT,FIRMPDEMP_PCT_F,RCPPDEMP,RCPPDEMP_F,RCPPDEMP_PCT,RCPPDEMP_PCT_F,EMP,EMP_F,EMP_PCT,EMP_PCT_F,PAYANN,PAYANN_F,PAYANN_PCT,PAYANN_PCT_F,FIRMPDEMP_S,FIRMPDEMP_S_F,FIRMPDEMP_PCT_S,FIRMPDEMP_PCT_S_F,RCPPDEMP_S,RCPPDEMP_S_F,RCPPDEMP_PCT_S,RCPPDEMP_PCT_S_F,EMP_S,EMP_S_F,EMP_PCT_S,EMP_PCT_S_F,PAYANN_S,PAYANN_S_F,PAYANN_PCT_S,PAYANN_PCT_S_F&for=us:*&QDESC_LABEL=PROMOTION&key=YOUR_KEY_GOES_HERE

For detailed information about the values available, please see “Technical Information for ABS API – Module Business Characteristics” at census.gov/programs-surveys/abs/technical-documentation/api.html

Related Information

Page Last Revised - April 6, 2026