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For Immediate Release: Thursday, May 11, 2023

Census Bureau Releases Nonemployer Business Data by Demographic Characteristics of Owners

Press Release Number: CB23-TPS.59

MAY 11, 2023 – Women owned 41.1% of the nation’s businesses without paid employees and had $313.6 billion in receipts in 2019, according to the latest Nonemployer Statistics by Demographics (NES-D) released today from the U.S. Census Bureau. Minorities, those classified as any race and ethnic combination other than non-Hispanic and White, owned 35.3% of businesses without paid employees and had $342.9 billion in receipts in 2019. This release also includes demographic data by urban and rural classification, receipt size of firm, and legal form of organization plus characteristics of nonemployer business owners.

The NES-D is an annual statistical series that uses existing administrative records and census data to link demographic characteristics to the universe of nonemployer businesses. Nonemployer businesses are those that have no paid employees or payroll, are subject to federal income tax, and have receipts of $1,000 or more. The NES-D statistics are the accompanying dataset to the Annual Business Survey (ABS) data on employer businesses and when combined with the ABS, provide a complete picture of business owner demographics such as sex, race, ethnicity and veteran status.

Highlights for nonemployer businesses:

  • Hispanic-owned firms accounted for 15.5% (4,191,000) of businesses, with $156.5 billion in receipts.
  • Veteran-owned businesses made up about 5.1% (1,382,000) of businesses, with $59.7 billion in receipts.
  • 2,334,000 (8.6%) businesses were Asian owned, with receipts of $114.2 billion, the largest receipts among businesses owned by minority race groups.
  • 3,455,000 (12.7%) businesses were Black or African American owned, with receipts of $83.6 billion.
  • 315,000 (1.2%) businesses were American Indian or Alaska Native owned, with $10.5 billion in receipts.
  • 82,000 (0.3%) businesses were Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander owned, with $3.0 billion in receipts.

This release also includes demographic statistics of all businesses, those with and without employees, combining results from the previously released ABS (data year 2019) and the 2019 NES-D.

Highlights from these combined statistics (total employer and nonemployer businesses):

  • Minorities owned and operated 10,630,319 businesses, with $1.9 trillion in receipts.
  • Women owned and operated 12,338,407 businesses, with $2.1 trillion in receipts.
  • Hispanics owned and operated 4,537,836 businesses, with $619.8 billion in receipts.
  • Veterans owned and operated 1,713,151 businesses, with $1.0 trillion in receipts.

The 2019 NES-D reported increases in business ownership by race for each of the minority race groups from 2018. These changes are due to the combination of enhanced methods used during processing, timing of administrative data, and population changes reported in the administrative data. The culmination of these changes could have affected some race groups more than others. For more information on the changes in data by race, refer to the NES-D methodology. The Census Bureau has reviewed this data product to ensure appropriate access, use and disclosure avoidance protection of the confidential source data (Project No. 7504866, Disclosure Review Board (DRB) approval number: CBDRB-FY23-0262).

No news release associated with this product. Tip Sheet only.

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Contact


Jewel Jordan
Public Information Office
301-763-3030 or
877-861-2010 (U.S. and Canada only)
pio@census.gov

 

Page Last Revised - May 17, 2023
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