Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs

Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs

November 17, 2020

The Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs (ASE) supplements the 5-year Survey of Business Owners (SBO) program and provides more timely updates on the status, nature, and scope of women-, minority-, and veteran-owned businesses for three reference years (2014 – 2016).

Annual 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 the fifty most populous metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs).

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 for the U.S., states, and the fifty most populous metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs).
Characteristics of Businesses. Provides data for employer firms by sector, sex, ethnicity, race, veteran status, and years in business for the U.S., states, and fifty most populous MSAs, including detailed business characteristics.
Characteristics of Business Owners. Provides data for owners of respondent employer firms by sector, sex, ethnicity, race, veteran status, and years in business for the U.S., states, and top fifty most populous MSAs, including detailed owner characteristics.

Read more information about the ASE at www.census.gov/programs-surveys/ase/about.html.

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

All data queries to the Census Data API now require an API key. Please cut and paste the Example Calls below into your web browser and replace YOUR_KEY_GOES_HERE with your personal API Key.

If you do not have an API Key, request one here. For more information: Watch Video.

2015

The 2015 ASE asked questions on selected economic and demographic characteristics for businesses and business owners by sex, ethnicity, race, and veteran status, and introduced a new module of questions covering business management practices, types of workers, tasks performed by workers, and record keeping practices.

Company Summary

API Call: api.census.gov/data/2015/ase/csa.html
Examples: api.census.gov/data/2015/ase/csa/examples.html
Geographies: api.census.gov/data/2015/ase/csa/geography.html
Variables: api.census.gov/data/2015/ase/csa/variables.html
Example Call: US Level Employer firms data:
api.census.gov/data/2015/ase/csa?get=NAME,NAICS2012,EMPSZFI,EMPSZFI_LABEL,FIRMPDEMP&for=us:*&key=YOUR_KEY_GOES_HERE

For detailed information about the values available, please see “Technical Information for ASE API – Company Summary.”

Characteristics of Businesses

API Call: api.census.gov/data/2015/ase/cscb.html
Examples: api.census.gov/data/2015/ase/cscb/examples.html
Geographies: api.census.gov/data/2015/ase/cscb/geography.html
Variables: api.census.gov/data/2015/ase/cscb/variables.html
Example Call: US Level Employer firms data for SPOUSES business characteristic:
api.census.gov/data/2015/ase/cscb?get=NAME,NAICS2012_LABEL,ASECB,ASECB_LABEL,SPOUSES,SPOUSES_LABEL,YEAR,FIRMPDEMP,FIRMPDEMP_PCT,RCPPDEMP,RCPPDEMP_F,RCPPDEMP_PCT,EMP,EMP_PCT,PAYANN,PAYANN_PCT,FIRMPDEMP_S,FIRMPDEMP_PCT_S,RCPPDEMP_S,RCPPDEMP_PCT_S,EMP_S,EMP_PCT_S,PAYANN_S,PAYANN_PCT_S&for=us:*&key=YOUR_KEY_GOES_HERE

For detailed information about the values available, please see “Technical Information for ASE API – Characteristics of Businesses.”

Characteristics of Business Owners

API Call: api.census.gov/data/2015/ase/cscbo.html
Examples: api.census.gov/data/2015/ase/cscbo/examples.html
Geographies: api.census.gov/data/2015/ase/cscbo/geography.html
Variables: api.census.gov/data/2015/ase/cscbo/variables.html
Example Call: US Level Owners data for ACQBUS characteristic of business owners:
api.census.gov/data/2015/ase/cscbo?get=NAME,NAICS2012_LABEL,ASECBO,ASECBO_LABEL,ACQBUS,ACQBUS_LABEL,YEAR,OWNPDEMP,OWNPDEMP_PCT,OWNPDEMP_S,OWNPDEMP_PCT_S&for=us:*&key=YOUR_KEY_GOES_HERE

For detailed information about the values available, please see “Technical Information for ASE API – Characteristics of Business Owners.”

Related Information

Page Last Revised - May 20, 2026