Census Bureau Releases Demographic Characteristics of Nonemployer Business Owners

MAY 8, 2025 - Women owned 42.7% (12.7 million) of the nation's 29.8 million nonemployer businesses (businesses without paid employees) and had $411.6 billion in receipts in 2022, according to the new Nonemployer Statistics by Demographics (NES-D) series released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. Veteran-owned firms made up about 4.6% (1.4 million) of nonemployer businesses, with $67.7 billion in receipts. There were a total of 29.8 million nonemployer businesses with $1.7 trillion in receipts in 2022.

This release also includes business owners' urban and rural classification, receipt size of firm, and legal form of organization (e.g., sole proprietorships and partnerships).

The NES-D is an annual series that uses existing administrative records and decennial census data to link demographic characteristics of owners to the universe of nonemployer businesses.

The nonemployer universe is comprised of businesses with annual receipts of at least $1,000 that file federal income tax.

Nonemployer businesses highlights:

• White-owned firms made up 73.3% (21.9 million) of nonemployer businesses, with receipts of $1.3 trillion.
• Black or African American-owned firms accounted for 14.9% (4.4 million) of nonemployer businesses, with receipts of $130.9 billion.
• Asian-owned firms accounted for 9.3% (2.8 million) of nonemployer businesses, with receipts of $163.1 billion.
• American Indian or Alaska Native-owned firms accounted for 1.2% (361,000) of nonemployer businesses, with $14.0 billion in receipts.
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander-owned firms accounted for 0.3% (101,000) of nonemployer businesses, with $4.2 billion in receipts.
• Hispanic-owned firms accounted for 17.2% (5.1 million) of nonemployer businesses and had $235.7 billion in receipts.

The NES-D is the accompanying dataset to the Annual Business Survey (ABS), which provides demographic statistics of employer businesses (those with paid employees). Combined, the data provide a complete picture of U.S. business owner demographics, including sex, race, ethnicity and veteran status.

This release also includes data year 2022 demographic statistics of all businesses, those with and without employees, combining results from the previously released ABS and NES-D.

Combined employer and nonemployer businesses highlights:

• There were 35.7 million U.S. employer and nonemployer businesses with $51.7 trillion in receipts.
• Women owned 14.0 million of total businesses with $2.5 trillion in receipts.
• Veterans owned 1.7 million of total businesses with $952.2 billion in receipts.

For more information on the methods used to assign demographic characteristics to nonemployer businesses, refer to the NES-D methodology.

No news release associated with this product. Tip sheet only.

###