How Many Businesses Are in the US? 2026 Statistics and Key Facts

Top 10 Must-Know US Business Statistics

1. Approximately 36.2 million businesses operated in the United States using comparable 2022 firm-level data: 6,395,635 employer firms plus 29,811,495 nonemployer businesses. Census SUSB + NES 2022
2. The SBA Office of Advocacy reports 36,207,130 small businesses, representing 99.9% of US businesses. SBA 2026
3. Small businesses employ 62.3 million people, or 45.9% of private-sector workers. SBA 2026
4. The US recorded 5,671,836 new business applications in 2025 — a new all-time high, up 92.4% from 2016. Census Bureau BFS 2025
5. In the BLS 1994 cohort of private-sector establishments, 79.6% survived one year, 49.6% survived five years, and 33.6% survived ten years. BLS Business Employment Dynamics
6. The IRS received 30,983,810 nonfarm sole-proprietorship returns for tax year 2022. Tax-return counts are not one-to-one counts of active legal entities. IRS SOI 2022
7. The five states with the most employer establishments—California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Illinois—accounted for 38.4% of the 2023 US total. Census CBP 2023
8. US employer-establishment payroll reached $9.56 trillion in 2023—up 42.1% from 2017, while the number of employer establishments grew 6.4%. Census CBP 2023
9. In the 2025 Small Business Credit Survey, 46% of responding employer firms reported using AI for work; another 15% planned to begin using it within 12 months. About 81% of respondents answered the optional AI module. Federal Reserve 2026
10. Approximately 29.1% of 2022 nonfarm sole-proprietorship returns reported no net income. IRS SOI 2022

How Many Businesses Are in the United States?

Using comparable 2022 firm-level datasets, the United States had 36,207,130 businesses: 6,395,635 employer firms in Statistics of U.S. Businesses and 29,811,495 nonemployer businesses in Nonemployer Statistics. The separate 2023 County Business Patterns count of 8,361,342 measures employer establishments—physical locations—not distinct firms, so it should not be added to the nonemployer count as a total of distinct businesses.

Establishment-Based View: Nonemployers Were 78.4% of the 2023 Total

Census reports that nonemployer establishments represented 78.4% of all US establishments in the combined 2023 view and grew 25.1% from 2015 to 2023. Census introduced significant Nonemployer Statistics methodology changes beginning with reference year 2022, so comparisons across that break should be treated cautiously.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau Nonemployer Statistics and County Business Patterns, 2023. CBP measures employer locations; NES measures businesses without paid employees.

2022 comparable firm-level total: 36.2 million businesses—6.40 million employer firms and 29.81 million nonemployer businesses.

Employer firms and employer establishments are different units. A firm is a business organization under common ownership and may operate at one or many establishments. A nonemployer business has no paid employees and is identified through federal tax records. Legal form cannot be inferred from nonemployer status alone: nonemployers may be sole proprietorships, partnerships, or corporations.

Is the Number of Businesses Growing?

Yes, although each series measures a different unit. Employer establishments increased from 7,860,674 in 2017 to 8,361,342 in 2023. Nonemployer businesses also increased, but Census methodology changes beginning in 2022 limit direct long-run comparisons.

Source: US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2017–2023

Small Business Statistics in the US

The SBA Office of Advocacy reports 36,207,130 small businesses, or 99.9% of US businesses, and 62.3 million small-business employees, or 45.9% of private-sector workers. SBA size standards vary by industry; the often-used fewer-than-500-employees threshold is not a universal rule for every industry.

Establishment Size: 55.5% of Employer Locations Had Fewer Than Five Workers

County Business Patterns counted 4,639,650 employer establishments with fewer than five on-site employees in 2023. It also counted 23,709 establishments with 500 or more on-site employees. These are location-size counts and cannot be used to classify the size of the parent firm.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023. Employment size is measured at each establishment, not across the parent firm.

SBA small-business eligibility is generally determined at the firm level and varies by industry. By contrast, the CBP size table groups physical establishments by employment at that location. A location with fewer than 500 workers may belong to a much larger multi-establishment company.

CBP counted 7,152,312 employer establishments with fewer than 20 on-site employees, representing 85.5% of employer establishments. This is a useful description of location size, not a count of independently owned firms.

Business Structure: How Are US Businesses Legally Organised?

This is the question most business statistics pages ignore entirely — and for anyone starting or running a business, it is the most important one. The legal structure of a business determines personal liability, tax treatment, operational flexibility, and the compliance burden the owner carries.

Business-Structure Data and Its Limits

What Federal Data Can—and Cannot—Show About Legal Structure

Federal tax-return categories do not map one-to-one to state-law entity types. LLCs can file as disregarded entities, partnerships, S corporations, or C corporations, so IRS return counts cannot be added together to produce a national legal-entity total.

Source: IRS Statistics of Income. Return counts measure tax filings and should not be described as counts of active legal entities.

Sole-Proprietor Returns, Receipts, and Net Income

For tax year 2022, the IRS reported 30,983,810 nonfarm sole-proprietorship returns, $2.0807 trillion in receipts, and $410.664 billion in net income less deficit. Average gross receipts were $67,155 per return, while aggregate net income less deficit equaled 19.7% of receipts.

Source: IRS Statistics of Income (SOI), Sole Proprietorship Returns — Tax Year 2022

No single authoritative federal dataset counts active LLCs nationwide. Partnership and corporation tax-return counts are year-specific filing measures, not one-to-one counts of active state-law entities. A national LLC figure requires a reproducible, same-date compilation from all state registries.

Sources: IRS Statistics of Income annual return tables and individual state business registries. Delaware statistics describe Delaware registrations only and are not a proxy for the national entity mix.

The IRS recorded 30,983,810 nonfarm sole-proprietorship returns in 2022. Those returns reported $2.0807 trillion in receipts and $410.664 billion in net income less deficit. Return counts should not be compared directly with estimated active-entity counts from different years.

The critical legal gap: Sole proprietorships carry no liability protection. A sole proprietor's personal assets — savings, home, car — are directly exposed if the business is sued, defaults on a debt, or faces a regulatory penalty. Most sole proprietors are unaware of this exposure, or accept it because they have not formalised their business at all.

LLC Counts Require State-by-State Data

There is no single authoritative federal count of active LLCs. LLC formation and active-status figures are maintained by state registries, and national claims require a reproducible 50-state compilation using a common date and definition. Delaware reported 235,393 new LLCs in 2025, but Delaware’s formation mix should not be generalized to the entire country.

An LLC can provide liability separation under state law and flexible federal tax classification, but protection depends on governing law, facts, and proper operation. A single-member LLC is generally disregarded for federal income-tax purposes unless it elects another classification.

🏛️ Delaware Business-Entity Statistics — 2025

334,461 new entities were formed in 2025; 235,393 were LLCs (70.4%).

Delaware reported 2,287,728 total entities, including 1,653,329 active LLCs.

More than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware.

Nearly 70% of US IPOs in 2025 chose Delaware as their corporate home.

Delaware corporation franchise taxes and related fees contributed $2.0504 billion to the state general fund in fiscal year 2025.

Delaware’s incorporation statistics measure legal domicile, not where companies operate or employ workers.

Businesses considering a state of formation should evaluate where they operate, foreign-qualification requirements, taxes, reporting duties, privacy rules, and governing law. Formation-state marketing claims should be checked against current statutes and official filing guidance.

Top Sole Proprietor Sectors (IRS SOI 2022)

Source: IRS Statistics of Income, Sole Proprietorship Returns 2022, published October 2024

The 3.78 million transportation and warehousing sole proprietors — third largest by count — largely reflect the gig economy: rideshare drivers, delivery couriers, and independent truckers. Construction leads in receipts ($377.1 billion) despite ranking fourth by return count.

New Business Formation: How Many Businesses Start Each Year?

The US Census Bureau's Business Formation Statistics (BFS) program tracks new business applications in near-real time. The data tells a story of sustained and accelerating entrepreneurial activity — with a few important caveats about what the numbers actually mean.

Formation Trend: Business Applications Have Nearly Doubled Since 2016 — And Hit a New All-Time High in 2025

Total applications surged 24.5% in 2020 and reached 5.67 million in 2025. High-Propensity Applications—filings with characteristics associated with becoming employer firms—grew more slowly than total applications. Applications are administrative filings, not confirmed business openings.

Source: US Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics (BFS) — Annual unadjusted series 2016–2025

2025 Was a Record Year

The Census Bureau recorded 5,671,836 business applications in 2025 — the highest annual total in the history of the BFS program, which dates to 2004. That is nearly double the 2.95 million applications filed in 2016.

Source: US Census Bureau Business Formation Statistics, unadjusted annual totals

Not All Applications Are Equal

The Census Bureau distinguishes between total business applications and High Propensity Applications (HPA) — those most likely to become employer businesses within four quarters. In 2025, 1,708,842 of the 5.67 million total applications — 30.1% — were classified as high propensity.

The composition of applications changed: High-Propensity Applications represented 41.6% of applications in 2016 and 30.1% in 2025. Census projected that 313,024 applications from the 2025 cohort would become employer firms within four quarters. These measures indicate propensity, not the quality or eventual success of a business.

The COVID Formation Surge

Business applications rose 24.5% in 2020 and another 23.7% in 2021. After declining in 2022, applications increased again in 2023 and 2025. Because applications are EIN filings rather than confirmed openings, the series measures formation activity, not the number of operating businesses created.

Private-Sector Establishment Survival Rates

Business failure statistics are among the most widely cited — and most widely misquoted — in entrepreneurship media. The definitive source is the Bureau of Labor Statistics Business Employment Dynamics (BDM), which tracks establishment survival rates over time using a cohort methodology.

1994 Establishment Cohort: 49.6% Survived Five Years

In the BLS cohort of private-sector establishments opened in 1994, 79.6% survived one year, 49.6% survived five years, and 33.6% survived ten years. These figures describe establishment survival for one historical cohort, not a universal business-failure rate.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics, Table 7 — cohort survival rates tracked through March 2025

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics, Table 7 — survival rates of establishments founded in 1994, tracked through March 2025

The commonly repeated failure-rate shorthand is too broad. BLS measures whether establishments in a specified cohort continue to have employment; an establishment that no longer survives is not necessarily equivalent to an entire firm failing. Results also vary by cohort, industry, and period.

What the Survival Data Does—and Does Not—Measure

The cited BLS table reports establishment survival outcomes; it does not identify why establishments close. Causes such as financing, demand, cash flow, owner circumstances, or compliance require separate evidence and should not be attributed to this survival table.

Legal note: Forming an LLC does not eliminate every possibility of owner liability. Outcomes depend on state law and facts such as personal guarantees, the owner’s own conduct, fraud, commingling, capitalization, and observance of applicable entity requirements.

Top Eight Economic Census Sectors by Revenue and Legal Context

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census, EC2200BASIC all-sector table. Firm counts and rankings use unrounded US sector-total rows.

These are the eight largest 2022 Economic Census in-scope sectors ranked by unrounded sales, value of shipments, or revenue. Together they reported $42.879527192 trillion, or 84.9% of the complete in-scope sector total. This is a ranking, not the complete US business universe; the complete 19-sector table appears in the revenue section below.

Professional, scientific, and technical services accounted for 3.92 million sole-proprietorship returns and $247.8 billion in receipts in the IRS 2022 data, ranking second to Other Services by return count among the sectors displayed.

Business by Geography: State-by-State Breakdown

Existing Locations: California Had 12.3% of US Employer Establishments

Top 4 states — CA, TX, FL, NY — account for 34.5% of all employer establishments nationally.

New Business Applications 2025: Florida Led the Nation

Florida recorded 647,734 business applications in 2025, the most of any state. California had the most projected employer formations at 44,765. Applications and projected formations are different measures, and neither is a direct count of operating businesses created.

Source: US Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics (BFS) — 2025 annual total

Where the Most Employer Establishments Operate

Source: US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023

Where Businesses Are Registered vs. Where They Operate

The state where a business operates and the state where it is legally incorporated can be entirely different — and that choice has significant legal, tax, and liability implications.

Texas had 670,878 employer establishments in 2023, compared with Florida’s 645,575. Florida recorded 647,734 business applications in 2025 versus 544,146 in Texas. Applications are filings for new Employer Identification Numbers, not confirmed business births; projected employer formations are a separate Census measure.

Employment by Employer-Establishment Size

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023. These are establishment-size statistics based on employment at each location; they are not firm-size small-business statistics. Total employment was 139,831,742.

Revenue: What Do US Businesses Earn?

Payroll per Employee Outpaced Employer-Establishment Growth (2017–2023)

Employer establishments increased 6.4% from 2017 to 2023, while average payroll per employee increased 30.7%, from $52,302 to $68,345. These CBP figures describe payroll and employment at employer establishments; they do not by themselves establish why payroll per employee changed.

Source: US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns (CBP) — Establishment counts and annual payroll 2017–2023

Sector Revenue (Economic Census 2022)

The 19 in-scope 2022 Economic Census sectors reported $50.479160646 trillion in sales, value of shipments, or revenue for paid-employee establishments. Separately, 2022 SUSB reports $50.848996830 trillion in employer-firm receipts. The products have different construction and coverage and should not be treated as interchangeable. Both are gross-flow measures, not value added, and neither is directly comparable with GDP.

What Sole-Proprietorship Returns Report

• Average gross receipts per return: $67,155 (2022)
• Aggregate net income less deficit: $410.664 billion
• Net income less deficit as a share of receipts: 19.7%
• Approximately 29.1% of returns reported no net income; the aggregate data do not provide an average income for profitable filers

The published aggregate “net income less deficit” includes losses. Dividing that amount by the number of returns with net income does not produce a valid average for profitable sole proprietors, so no such average is reported here.

Venture-Capital Deal Activity

The 2024 NVCA Yearbook reports 13,608 US venture-capital deals totaling $170.6 billion in 2023. Deal count is not a count of distinct companies because one company may complete multiple deals, so it cannot support a percentage of all US businesses.

Methodology and Sources

All statistics are drawn from primary US government sources and verified federal surveys, retrieved directly via Census API, IRS data downloads, and BLS published tables.

Revenue-Table Methodology

• Economic Census sector figures use 2022 United States rows from EC2200BASIC filtered to GEOTYPE=01, ST=00, GEOCOMP=00, TYPOP=00, and TAXSTAT=00.

• The complete figure sums the 19 in-scope sector-total rows using unrounded RCPTOT values reported in thousands of dollars.

• NAICS 115 represents the in-scope support-activities portion of Agriculture; the Economic Census does not cover all of NAICS 11.

• Public Administration (NAICS 92) is outside the Economic Census, and parts of several represented sectors are also excluded.

• GEOCOMP=R0, the separate offshore-area geography, is excluded so Mining is not counted twice.

• Economic Census sector revenue and SUSB employer-firm receipts are reported separately and are not combined with nonemployer receipts.

• Gross receipts include intermediate transactions and are not value added or GDP.

Official Primary Sources

• Census County Business Patterns glossary: firms, enterprises, and establishments

• Census County Business Patterns 2023 table

• Census Statistics of U.S. Businesses 2022 datasets

• Census SUSB 2022 national detailed-size source file

• Census Nonemployer Statistics 2022 table

• Census Nonemployer Statistics 2023 datasets

• SBA Office of Advocacy: Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business 2026

• Census Business Formation Statistics data

• IRS nonfarm sole-proprietorship statistics

• BLS establishment age and survival data

• Delaware Division of Corporations annual-report statistics

• Federal Reserve 2026 Report on Employer Firms

• NVCA Yearbook

• Census 2022 Economic Census data releases

• Census 2022 Economic Census Construction table (EC2223BASIC)

• Census 2022 Economic Census Wholesale Trade table (EC2242BASIC)

• Census 2022 Economic Census Information table (EC2251BASIC)

• Census 2022 Economic Census Finance and Insurance table (EC2252BASIC)

• Census 2022 Economic Census Real Estate and Rental and Leasing table (EC2253BASIC)

• Census 2022 Economic Census Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services table (EC2254BASIC)

• Census 2022 Economic Census Health Care and Social Assistance table (EC2262BASIC)

• Census 2022 Economic Census Accommodation and Food Services table (EC2272BASIC)

• Census Statistics of U.S. Businesses glossary

• Census 2022 Economic Census all-sector table (EC2200BASIC)

• Census 2022 Economic Census EC2200BASIC bulk file

• Census Economic Census NAICS coverage guidance

Methodology note: County Business Patterns counts employer establishments—physical locations—not distinct firms. For a consistent 2022 business count, this article combines 6,395,635 employer firms from SUSB with 29,811,495 nonemployer businesses from NES, totaling 36,207,130. The separate 2023 figures of 8,361,342 employer establishments and 30,427,808 nonemployer businesses describe different statistical units and are not added here as a count of distinct businesses. Data years and units are stated with each claim.