U.S. small business statistics

How many small businesses there are, how many people they employ and what kind of work they do. From the SBA’s 2025 profile, using 2022 Census data.

United States · 2022 data

The headline numbers.

small businesses in the U.S. (36,186,089): 36.2M
people work at small businesses (62,250,556): 62.3M
of covered U.S. employment is at small businesses: 45.9%

Source: SBA Office of Advocacy, 2025 U.S. small business profile, using 2022 Census data. Here, a small business is a firm with fewer than 500 employees, including firms with no employees.

Most small businesses have no paid employees.

Most have no payroll at all. Keep that in mind when you read any count of small businesses.

have no paid employees (29,811,495): 82.4%
have 1 to 19 employees (5,720,093): 15.8%
have 20 to 499 employees (654,501): 1.8%

United States, 2022. Shares are calculated from the SBA’s counts and rounded to one decimal. Counts come from the Census Bureau’s Nonemployer Statistics and Statistics of U.S. Businesses, as published in the SBA’s 2025 profile.

Small businesses in eight large industries.

Ordered by number of small businesses. These eight are a selection, not every industry. United States, 2022, from page 2 of the SBA’s 2025 profile.

See Indiana’s numbers

Professional, scientific, and technical services
4,881,738 small businesses. 4,013,209 have no paid employees.
Transportation and warehousing
4,089,883 small businesses. 3,854,720 have no paid employees.
Other services, except public administration
3,860,519 small businesses. 3,132,683 have no paid employees.
Construction
3,656,782 small businesses. 2,875,590 have no paid employees.
Real estate and rental and leasing
3,510,689 small businesses. 3,145,367 have no paid employees.
Administrative, support, and waste management
3,191,552 small businesses. 2,819,562 have no paid employees.
Health care and social assistance
2,945,484 small businesses. 2,256,042 have no paid employees.
Retail trade
2,813,437 small businesses. 2,170,322 have no paid employees.

Questions about small business statistics

How many small businesses are in the U.S.?

36,186,089, according to the SBA’s 2025 U.S. small business profile. The count uses 2022 Census data and covers firms with fewer than 500 employees, including firms with no employees.

See the sources

What percent of small businesses have no employees?

82.4%. In 2022, 29,811,495 of the 36,186,089 U.S. small businesses had no paid employees. We calculated the share from the SBA’s counts.

Small businesses without employees

How many people work for small businesses?

62,250,556 people in 2022. That’s 45.9% of the employment the SBA’s profile covers.

What counts as a small business?

In these numbers, a firm with fewer than 500 employees. That includes firms with no paid employees. A firm can have more than one location, so a count of firms isn’t a count of storefronts.

How the numbers are made

Are these 2025 numbers?

No. 2025 is when the SBA published the profile. The business counts and jobs come from 2022 Census data.

Editions and corrections

How should I cite these numbers?

Name the source and the year measured. For example: SBA Office of Advocacy, United States 2025 Small Business Profile. Business counts and employment use 2022 Census data.

Can these numbers show which businesses are for sale?

No. They’re totals. They don’t show which businesses are for sale, what any business is worth or what an owner plans to do.

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