The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data detailing the characteristics of both employer and nonemployer business owners in the United States. The information, which includes breakdowns by sex, race, ethnicity, veteran status, industry sector, and congressional district, provides a comprehensive look at business ownership across the country.
This release draws from two main sources: the Annual Business Survey (ABS), covering businesses with paid employees, and the Nonemployer Statistics by Demographics (NES-D), which covers businesses without paid employees. Together, these sources offer an extensive view of demographic trends among U.S. business owners.
According to 2023 data, there were 36.4 million employer and nonemployer businesses in the United States with total receipts of $50 trillion. Of these, women owned 14.2 million businesses generating $2.8 trillion in receipts, while veterans owned 1.6 million businesses with $1 trillion in receipts.
The 2024 ABS indicates that there were about 5.9 million employer firms in 2023; women owned 1.4 million (22.9%) and veterans owned approximately 261,000 (4.4%). White-owned firms represented the majority of employer businesses at 80.6% (4.8 million) with $17 trillion in receipts; Asian-owned firms accounted for 11.5% (685,000) with $1.2 trillion; Hispanic-owned firms made up 8.4% (496,000) with $730 billion; Black or African American-owned firms represented 3.4% (201,000) with $249 billion; American Indian or Alaska Native-owned firms accounted for 0.9% (55,000) with $70 billion; and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander-owned firms comprised 0.2% (9,000) with $13 billion.
The ABS is conducted jointly by the Census Bureau and sponsored by the National Science Foundation’s National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES). It measures research and development activities among microbusinesses as well as innovation and technology adoption.
The NES-D shows that there were approximately 30.4 million nonemployer businesses in the U.S., generating $1.8 trillion in receipts during 2023. Women owned about 12.9 million nonemployer businesses—42 percent—with combined receipts of over $423 billion; veteran ownership stood at roughly 1.4 million nonemployer businesses with more than $65 billion in receipts.
Additional findings reveal that white-owned nonemployer firms made up nearly three-quarters of such businesses at 73 percent (22 million), accounting for most of the category’s total receipts ($1.3 trillion). Hispanic-owned nonemployers constituted almost one-fifth at over five million entities ($244 billion); Black or African American ownership reached more than four million ($128 billion); Asian ownership covered nearly three million ($163 billion); American Indian or Alaska Native owners managed about 378 thousand ($15 billion); while Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander owners operated just over one hundred thousand such enterprises ($4 billion).
Both releases also provide insights into urban versus rural classification of business owners as well as details on firm size by employment numbers or receipt totals.
The NES-D uses administrative records alongside decennial census data to match owner demographics to all qualifying nonemployer entities—those reporting annual revenues above $1,000 on federal tax returns.
For further details on how demographic assignments are made within this dataset or additional information on survey methodology can be found through official Census Bureau resources.
