NOV. 20, 2025 — The U.S. Census Bureau today released new data about the sex, race, ethnicity, veteran status and other characteristics of U.S. business owners. For the first time, the release also includes estimates of employer firms by owner characteristics, industry sector and congressional district.

The data come from two sources: the Annual Business Survey (ABS), which covers employer businesses (those with paid employees), and the Nonemployer Statistics by Demographics (NES-D), which covers nonemployer businesses (those without paid employees). Together, they provide the most complete picture yet of U.S. business owner demographics.

• In 2023, there were 36.4 million U.S. employer and nonemployer businesses, with $50.0 trillion in receipts.
• Women owned 14.2 million of all U.S. businesses, with $2.8 trillion in receipts.
• Veterans owned 1.6 million of all U.S businesses, with $1.0 trillion in receipts.

According to the 2024 ABS, which covers reference year 2023, there were approximately 5.9 million U.S. employer firms — 1.4 million (22.9%) were owned by women and 261,000 (4.4%) by veterans.

This release also includes demographic data by urban and rural classification, employment size, receipt size, and each firm’s number of years in business:

• White-owned firms made up 80.6% (4.8 million) of employer businesses, with receipts of $17.0 trillion.
• Asian-owned firms accounted for 11.5% (685,000) of employer businesses, with receipts of $1.2 trillion.
• Hispanic-owned firms accounted for 8.4% (496,000) of employer businesses and had $730.3 billion in receipts.
• Black or African American-owned firms accounted for 3.4% (201,000) of employer businesses, with receipts of $249.0 billion.
• American Indian or Alaska Native-owned firms accounted for 0.9% (55,000) of employer businesses, with $70.8 billion in receipts.
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander-owned firms accounted for 0.2% (9,000) of employer businesses, with $13.1 billion in receipts.

The ABS is sponsored by the National Science Foundation's National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics  (NCSES) and conducted jointly with the Census Bureau. It measures research and development for microbusinesses, innovation and technology, and provides annual data on select economic and demographic characteristics of businesses and business owners by sex, ethnicity, race and veteran status. The NCSES is set to release more data on research and development and innovation in the coming months.

According to the new 2023 NES-D there were 30.4 million U.S. nonemployer businesses, with $1.8 trillion in receipts. Women owned 12.9 million (42.3%) of them and had $423.1 billion in receipts, and veteran-owned firms made up about 1.4 million (4.5%) of nonemployer businesses, with $65.7 billion in receipts.

Other highlights:

• In 2023, White-owned firms made up 73.6% (22.4 million) of nonemployer businesses, with receipts of $1.3 trillion.
• Hispanic-owned firms accounted for 17.5% (5.3 million) of nonemployer businesses and had $244.2 billion in receipts.
• Black or African American-owned firms accounted for 14.4% (4.4 million) of nonemployer businesses, with receipts of $128.7 billion.
• Asian-owned firms accounted for 9.2% (2.8 million) of nonemployer businesses, with receipts of $163.6 billion.
• American Indian or Alaska Native-owned firms accounted for 1.2% (378,000) of nonemployer businesses, with $15.5 billion in receipts.
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander-owned firms accounted for 0.3% (102,000) of nonemployer businesses, with $4.4 billion in receipts.

This release also includes business owners’ urban and rural classification, receipt size of firm, and legal form of organization (e.g., sole proprietorships and partnerships).

The NES-D is an annual series that uses existing administrative records and decennial census data to link business owners’ demographic characteristics to the universe of nonemployer businesses.

The nonemployer universe is comprised of businesses with annual receipts of at least $1,000 that file federal income tax. For more information on the methods used to assign demographic characteristics to nonemployer businesses, refer to the NES-D methodology.

No news release is associated with this product. Tip sheet only. 

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