We no longer support this browser. Using a supported browser will provide a better experience.

Please update your browser.

Close browser message

RESEARCH Economic Activity

Economic Activity

Small businesses are an anchor of the US economy.

Small businesses accounted for 45 percent of GDP in 2010, down from 50 percent in the late 1990s.

Source: "SBA – Small Business GDP: Update 2002-2010”, by Kathryn Kobe, Economic Consulting Services, LLC, UC Berkeley Washington, DC 20036. Published January 2012 - https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/rs390tot_0.pdf

48 percent of all US employees work for small businesses, down from 52 percent in the early 2000s.

Source: US Census Bureau, Business Dynamics Statistics, 2014

18 percent of all US employees work for businesses with fewer than 20 employees.

Source: US Census Bureau, Business Dynamics Statistics, 2014

Small businesses accounted for over half of net job creation in 2014.

Source: US Census Bureau, Business Dynamics Statistics, 2014

Small businesses produced 33 percent of US exports in 2015, up significantly since 2006.

Note: A small business in this chart is defined as a business with fewer than 500 employees.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, A Profile of U.S. Importing and Exporting Companies

Over 99 percent of America’s 28.7 million firms are small businesses. The vast majority (88 percent) of employer firms have fewer than 20 employees, and nearly 40 percent of all enterprises have under $100k in revenue.

Source: US Census Bureau, Business Dynamics Statistics, 2014

Source: IRS, Statistics of Income, 2013

20 percent of small businesses are employer businesses and 80 percent are nonemployer businesses.

Source: US Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics, 2014, US Census Bureau, Statistics of US Businesses, 2014

The average small business employee earned $45,857 in 2015. In general, the larger the business, the higher the average employee pay. The smallest businesses (those with 1-4 employees) are an exception.

Source: US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, 2015