National Small Business Week: Small Business by the Numbers

By SBE Council at 28 April, 2026, 9:08 pm

by Raymond J. Keating -

National Small Business Week 2026 is upon us. While SBE Council celebrates small business and entrepreneurship every day, a week is set aside each year to commemorate the contribution and importance of small business to the nation's economy and vibrancy.

The Small Business Administration is leading the charge in celebrating this week, and notes : "For more than 60 years, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has celebrated National Small Business Week (NSBW), which acknowledges the critical contributions of America's entrepreneurs and small business owners. National Small Business Week 2026 will take place May 3-9, and SBA will officially recognize their hard work, ingenuity, dedication, and their contributions to the economy."

It's hard to overstate these contributions. Entrepreneurs and their enterprises are the engines that drive our economy forward in terms of innovation, and economic, income and employment growth.

My economist brain believes that part of this critical economic story can be told through a variety of data. Let's consider assorted numbers.

A Small Business Economy

When we talk about American businesses, we're overwhelmingly talking small-to-mid-size enterprises. America very much is a small business economy. In fact, there are 36,207,130 small businesses in the United States

Based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 6.4 million employer firms in the United States in 2022 (latest data).

● Firms with fewer than 500 employees accounted for 99.7 percent of those businesses.

● Firms with fewer than 100 employees accounted for 98.2 percent.

● Firms with fewer than 20 employees made up 89.4 percent.

● Firms with fewer than 10 employees accounted for 79.2 percent.

When nonemployer businesses are taken into account - 30.4 million in 2023 (latest data) - there are 36.8 million businesses in the U.S. The share with fewer than 10 workers registered 96.4 percent and the share with fewer than 100 employees came in at 99.7 percent.

For good measure, out of these 36.8 million businesses in the U.S., only about 21,000 have 500 or more employees. Of course, even these "big businesses" were small at one time. They succeeded in growing from entrepreneurial startups to national and international leaders.

How They are Organized: C Corporations are Small Businesses Too

It seems that the default in terms of how people think about C corporations is that all such companies are big businesses. But once again, that would be wrong. C corps are overwhelmingly smaller businesses.

It turns out that, based on the latest employer (2022) and nonemployer (2023) data:

● 1.3 million C corporations, 81.7 percent had fewer than 10 employees

● 97.1 percent fewer than 100 employees

Economic Growth and Job Creation

While the data doesn't capture the full effects of the roles that entrepreneurs play, the SBA Office of Advocacy does offer some information that indicates the importance of small business, such as in terms of the overall economy and job creation.

● Small business accounts for 43.5 percent of gross domestic product, and employs 45.9 percent of the private sector workforce (62.3 million people).

● Between January 1995 to December 2024, small businesses created 20.7 million net new jobs while large businesses created 13.2 million.

● That means small businesses have accounted for 61 percent of net new job creation since 1995.

By the way, it must be noted that in this dataset, once businesses pass the 500-employees threshold, they are then counted as large businesses. Therefore, the small business shares of GDP, private sector employees and job create are actually understated.

Entrepreneurship Features Risk and Uncertainty

It is not easy to create and launch a business, have it succeed, and then navigate and survive the many challenges and uncertainties. One piece of data from the SBA captures this reality:

"From 1994-2022, an average of 67.7 percent of new employer establishments survived at least two years. During the same period, the five-year survival rate was 49.2 percent, the ten-year survival rate was 33.9 percent, and the fifteen-year survival rate was 25.5 percent."

Small Business is Big

Today's big businesses were once small businesses that grew by serving consumers well. Let's consider a few of the "classic" industries labeled as "big."

Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing: The businesses that create prescription drugs, medicines and vaccines that improve and save people's lives are small to mid-size businesses, not "Big Pharma."

Energy. The industry that is part of the very foundation upon which our economy functions and our lives actually depend on in so many ways is also dominated by small businesses. Some of the key sectors populated by smaller businesses (employer firms) include:

Technology. U.S. technology firms are critical to U.S. innovation and competitiveness. Not surprisingly, this is a sector that is largely about small, entrepreneurial firms.

National Small Business Week is about recognizing the "hard work, ingenuity, dedication, and … contributions to the economy" of entrepreneurs, small businesses, their employees and the investors who provide the financial capital needed for such firms to sprout and grow. The mighty contributions of the entire small business community should never be taken for granted, nor undersold.

Again. America is a small business economy.

Raymond J. Keating is chief economist for the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council. He is the author of " The Weekly Economist " book series, and 10 Points from Walt Disney on Entrepreneurship .