The U.S. Census Bureau today released new estimates on the characteristics of employer businesses. According to the 2022 Annual Business Survey (ABS), which covers reference year 2021, there were approximately 5.9 million employer firms in total, of which, 1.2 million (21%) were minority-owned, 304,823 (5.2%) were veteran-owned, and around 1.3 million (22%) were owned by women. This release also includes demographic data by Urban and Rural classification, employment size, receipt size, and the years in business of each firm.
Other highlights:
- Veteran-owned businesses had an estimated $922.2 billion in receipts, 3.3 million employees, and $179.9 billion in annual payroll.
- Women-owned businesses had an estimated $2.1 trillion in receipts, 10.5 million employees, and $499.4 billion in annual payroll.
- There were an estimated 642,950 Asian-owned businesses in the United States in 2021, and an estimated 151,933 (24%) of them were in the Accommodation and Food Services sector. Asian-owned businesses had the largest estimated receipts ($1.0 trillion) among minority race groups.
- There were an estimated 161,031 Black or African American-owned businesses with $183.3 billion in annual receipts, 1.4 million employees, and about $53.6 billion in annual payroll. About 45,015 (28%) of these businesses were in the Health Care and Social Assistance sector.
- There were an estimated 48,582 American Indian and Alaska Native-owned businesses with $54.4 billion in receipts, 307,933 employees, and approximately $12.9 billion in annual payroll.
- There were an estimated 8,324 Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander-owned businesses with approximately $10.5 billion in receipts, 53,277 employees, and $2.5 billion in annual payroll.
- The number of Hispanic-owned businesses grew about 8.2% from 375,256 in 2020 to 406,086 in 2021 and made up about 6.9% of all businesses with an estimated $572.9 billion in annual receipts, 3.0 million employees, and approximately $124.4 billion in annual payroll.
Within the ABS, minority-owned firms are classified as any race and ethnicity combination other than non-Hispanic and White, and nonminority firms are classified as non-Hispanic and White. The ABS is sponsored by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) within the National Science Foundation and conducted jointly with the Census Bureau. The survey measures research and development for microbusinesses, innovation, and technology and provides annual data on select economic and demographic characteristics for businesses and business owners by sex, ethnicity, race and veteran status. NCSES is set to release more data on research and development and innovation in the coming months.