JAN. 28, 2021 — The U.S. Census Bureau today released new estimates on the characteristics of employer businesses. According to the 2019 Annual Business Survey (ABS), covering reference year 2018, approximately 18.3% (1.0 million) of all U.S. businesses were minority-owned and about 19.9% (1.1 million) of all businesses were owned by women.

Additional statistics released include:

• In the United States, the four sectors with the most businesses were Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services; Construction; Health Care and Social Assistance; and Retail Trade. Combined, these estimated 2.8 million businesses employed about 51.1 million people and had an annual payroll of approximately $2.6 trillion.
• Veteran-owned businesses made up about 5.9% (337,934) of all businesses, with an estimated $947.7 billion in receipts, approximately 3.9 million employees, and about $177.7 billion in annual payroll.
• The number of Hispanic-owned businesses had a growth of about 3.0% from 2017. In 2018, Hispanic-owned businesses made up about 5.8% (331,625) of all businesses, with an estimated $455.6 billion in annual receipts, approximately 3.0 million employees, and about $101.1 billion in annual payroll.
• There were an estimated 577,835 Asian-owned businesses with about 24.5% (141,746) in the Accommodation and Food Services sector. Asian-owned businesses had the largest estimated receipts ($863.3 billion) among minority groups.
• Blacks or African Americans owned approximately 124,551 businesses, with about 28.5% (35,547) of these businesses in the Health Care and Social Assistance sector, the highest percentage of any minority group.
• There were an estimated 24,433 American Indian and Alaska Native-owned businesses with approximately $33.7 billion in receipts, an estimated 200,256 employees, and about $8.2 billion in annual payroll.
• There were approximately 6,653 Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander-owned business with nearly $11.2 billion in receipts, an estimated 54,446 employees, and about $2.1 billion in annual payroll.

The ABS is sponsored by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) within the National Science Foundation (NSF) and conducted jointly with the Census Bureau. The ABS 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. Additional data on research and development and innovation will be released by NCSES in the coming months.

The ABS only includes tabulations for employer businesses, which are businesses with paid employees. The collection year is the year that the data are collected. A reference year is the year that is referenced in the questions on the survey, from where the statistics are tabulated. For example, the 2019 ABS collection year produces statistics mostly for the 2018 reference year.

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