Small Businesses (SMBs), Family Firms, Minority Firms, Social Enterprises

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Small Businesses (SMBs)

• small businesses: 99.9% of American businesses: 33.2 million; between 43.5% - 50.7% of GDP; employs 45.9% of Americans; small businesses pay employees an average of $30.42 an hour: $63,000 annual income; Source: U.S. Chamber of Commerce

• Small Business Earnings Report (Biz2Credit: July 2025): Source: Biz2Credit

  • average earnings: $62,300 (-52% annual decrease)

  • average revenue: $614,200

  • average expenses: $551,900

• monthly small business earnings (2025) remain significantly below levels seen in previous 2 years (peaked at $250,000: Summer 2023); small business earnings tend to be seasonal with summer being the most lucrative time of the year; Source: Forbes

• 89% of U.S. small businesses are either sole proprietorships or have less than 20 full-time employees; majority (83%) are funded from savings, credit cards, and loans from family or friends, with approximately $80,000 in startup capital for men and $54,000 for women; Source: Forbes 

• small businesses (a single owner and fewer than 500 employees); Source: Business Insider

  • over 50% are owned by people over Age 50

• Small Businesses: 33 million American small businesses: employ 61.7 million Americans and create 2/3 of new jobs; Source: The White House

• Establishments

  • 35.7 million American employer and nonemployer businesses (2022); Source: Census Bureau

  • nonemployer businesses (no paid employees): 29.8 million in America; women-owned (42.7%), Hispanic-owned (17.2%), Black/African American-owned (14.9%), Asian-owned (9.3%), veteran-owned (4.6%), American Indian/Alaska Native-owned (1.2%), Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander-owned (0.3%); Source: Census Bureau

  • establishments with paid employees in America: over 8.0 million (2022); Source: Census 

    • Retail Trade: top establishment

    • Health Care and Social Assistance sector: most employees

    • Wholesale Trade sector: highest total sale

  • companies with employees (employer firms) in America: 5.9 million total (2024); Source: Census

    • women-owned: 22.3%

    • minority-owned: 22.6%

    • veteran-owned: 4.7%

Family Firms

• 70% of American family firms shut down or get sold before the 2nd generation; just 10% remain privately held going into the 3rd generation; Source: Economist 

Minority Firms

• 1.1 million minority-owned small businesses with employees in America; Source: McKinsey 

Social Enterprises

• 2% of global GDP and 3% of all businesses; Source: World Economic Forum and World Economic Forum

  • 10 million social enterprises globally (India: 2 million, China: 1.75 million, America: 1.3 million entities)

  • generate economic value but also drive significant social and environmental impact: health and education, inclusive wealth, sustainable development, economic resilience, climate and jobs, reducing poverty and inequality

  • prioritize purpose over profit:

    • purpose (exists to solve social and/or environmental problems)

    • operations (prioritizes purpose over profit in operational and strategic decisions)

    • revenue (proportion of income is earned through trading)

    • structure (chooses legal structures and financing that protect and lock in purpose long term)