30 Insightful Small Business Statistics

Are you looking to learn more about small businesses or keep up with the latest trends? Familiarize yourself with the world of startups and entrepreneurship by taking a look at the statistics behind them. These 30 insightful small business statistics will help you create your own business or shore up your company’s deficiencies.

Growth & Survival Statistics

As of 2018, there are 30.2 million small businesses in the U.S.

This accounts for 99.9% of United States businesses.

Lack of capital is a top challenge for 33% of small business owners

15% of small business owners say marketing and advertising is a challenge while 13% find time management challenging.

About 1 in 12 businesses close every year

Many businesses close for personal reasons. The top reasons being low sales, the owner retiring or selling the business or the owner wanting to start a new business.

50% of small businesses will survive 5 years or more

Approximately one-third will survive 10 years or more.

50% of all U.S. businesses are home-based

More specifically, 60.1% of all firms without paid employees are home-based.

86.3% of small business owners said they take a salary of less than $100,000

Most small business owners are taking a salary, but they’re paying themselves less than six figures. However, 30.07% of small business owners don’t take a salary at all.

The average CEO makes $160,077 per year

Small business owners are paying themselves less than what an average CEO would earn.

More than 70% of all small business owners ranked their happiness level higher than 5 on a scale of 1 to 10

How happy are small business owners? Business owners seem happier and content with what they’re doing. At least 53% ranked their happiness level at a nine or above (with 10 being the happiest). About 37% ranked their happiness at a 10.

In 2015, there were about 414,000 startups firms that were less than 1-year-old and 396,000 business closures

The Small Business Administration (SBA) also reports that 1 in 12 businesses closes each year.

Financing Statistics

Big banks approved around 26.9% of small business loans

Smaller banks have a much higher approval rate around 50.2% Alternative lenders approved 56.7% of business loan requests.

The average SBA loan amount from large national banks is $59,000 and is $165,000 from small national or regional banks

This figure from the SBA includes industrial and commercial loans. For alternative lenders, the average loan amount ranges from $50,000 to $80,000.

Nearly half of all small business owners are still going to large and small banks for loans

Small business owners still favor banks when it comes to obtaining a loan, but others are seeking out alternative lenders. Only 24% are going to online lenders and 9% are going to credit unions.

Most home-based franchises can be started with as little as $1,000 to $5,000

However, if you add in employees, an office space and equipment costs, you could be spending more than $10,000 easily.

Women in Business Statistics

There are 12.3 million women-owned businesses in the U.S.

Women own four out of every 10 businesses in the U.S. Compare this to 45 years ago when there were only 402,000 women-owned businesses in the U.S.

Woman-owned businesses generate $1.8 trillion in revenue

This is just 4.3% of the total private sector revenue.

88% of women-owned businesses generate less than $100,000 in revenue

A growing minority of women-owned businesses are generating seven figures or more per year. 1.7% of women-owned businesses generated more than $1 million in revenue, which is an increase of 46% over the past 11 years.

Minority-owned Business Statistics

Women of color own 47% of all women-owned businesses

In 2017, 1,821 net new women-owned businesses were launched each day and women of color founded 64% of them.

8 million businesses or 29.3% of U.S. firms are owned by minorities

Of these 8 million businesses, 12% were Hispanic-owned, 10% were Black- or African American-owned, 7% were Asian-owned, 1% were owned by American Indians and Alaska Natives, and 0.2% were owned by Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders.

Veterans own 2.52 million businesses or 9.3% of U.S. firms

About 9.1% of all U.S. businesses are majority-owned by veterans

Immigrants make up 18% of small business owners

Immigrants also made up 30% of the growth of U.S. businesses in recent years.

Marketing Statistics

64% of small businesses currently have a website

A website is paramount for small businesses today. Of the 64% of business owners who have a small business, 81% say their website is mobile-friendly.

In 2018, more than half of online traffic was from mobile devices

At 52.2%, this is up from 50.3% the previous year. Mobile search and web usage accounts for half of all web pages served.

61% of small businesses invest in social media marketing

People spend a lot of time on social media these days, and small business owners know it. More than half of them are investing in social media marketing to better reach and connect with their audience.

Nearly 50% of small businesses spend $10,000 or less on digital marketing each year

A one-fourth spent between $10,001 and $100,000 and 13% spent upward of $500,000.

53% of businesses say that content marketing strategies like blogging are their top priority

These business owners admit that inbound marketing gives them a higher return on investment.

Hiring Statistics

From 2000 to 2017, small businesses created 8.4 million net new jobs

During this time period, small businesses accounted for a significant 65.9% of net new job creation in the U.S.

More than half of small business employees say they feel happy with their jobs

Small business employees feel happier at work due to company leadership, a better work-life balance, and the ability to have their individual voices heard.

57.9 million people are employed by small businesses

This is a 1.1 million increase from 2016. This currently makes up 47.8% of U.S. employees.

Almost 9 in 10 small businesses offer a medical plan to their employees

More than 50% of small businesses aim to offer a better benefits package than their competitors.

Nearly 47% of business owners anticipate employee growth during the next 5 years

Tech firms, startups, and those led by Millennials are among the most optimistic about future growth prospects according to this study conducted by Guardian.

Bottom Line

These small business statistics give a good look into what makes small businesses tick ― and potential problems they may face. Be sure to take these statistics into account when forming your business plan so that you can ensure that your company survives and thrives.