SemRush: Small Business Statistics to Know in 2024

Paying attention to small business trends and statistics is valuable to anyone who owns or wants to own a small business. Because it helps you understand both risks and opportunities.

The below list of small business statistics provides a high-level overview of the small business landscape in 2024.

And they're organized by category. So you can focus on which ones you're most interested in learning more about.

But before the numbers, let's start with why it's a good idea to review small business stats in the first place.

Why Statistics Are Important to Small Businesses

Reviewing small business stats can give you a baseline for strategic planning and decision-making. Which can lead to higher revenue and greater efficiency.

More specifically, making smart use of statistics enables you to:

• See how competitive you are in the overall market
• Understand the common challenges that can lead to small business failure
• Discover emerging trends and technologies you can leverage to fuel growth

In short, you'll have information to guide you. So you don't have to guess about what to do and what to avoid.

Now, let's get into the numbers.

General Small Businesses Statistics

 1. There are 33.2 million small businesses in the United States (SBA Office of Advocacy, 2023)

2. 63% of the new jobs created between 1995 and 2021 came from small businesses (SBA Office of Advocacy, 2023)

3. There are 61.7 million small business employees in the U.S.—that's 46% of the private sector workforce (SBA Office of Advocacy, 2023)

4. A small business is generally defined as a small enterprise with less than 1,500 employees (SBA, 2023)

5. The average small business with employees has a staff of 11.7 employees (SBA Office of Advocacy, 2023)

6. 99.6% of small businesses with employees have fewer than 500 employees (Federal Reserve Board of Governors, 2022)

Statistics About Consumers' Preference for Small Businesses

7. 73% of Gen Z and 75% of Millennials say they would shop more at small businesses if they offered similar conveniences as chain stores (GoDaddy, 2023)

8. The average American shops at a small business 213 times per year (AT&T, 2022)

9. 64% of Americans occasionally feel guilty after shopping at big chain stores (AT&T, 2022)

10. 73% of consumers say small businesses offer better and more personalized customer service than corporations (Zendesk, 2019)

11. 77% of consumers say they're willing to pay more for a small business with a better customer service experience (Zendesk, 2019)

Tip

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Small Business Financing Statistics

12. The top financing sources for small businesses are personal savings, credit cards, and local banks and credit unions (U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 2023) 

13. Of all small businesses that applied for credit in 2020, 68% did so through a bank (Federal Reserve Board of Governors, 2022)

14. Savings institutions held $40 billion in small business loans in 2021 (Federal Reserve Board of Governors, 2022)

15. 31% of small businesses that applied for credit in 2020 received full funding (Federal Reserve Board of Governors, 2022)

16. The average SBA loan is $479,685 (SBA, 2023)

17. 33% of small businesses launched with less than $5,000. And 58% launched with less than $25,000. (U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 2023)

18. 60% of small businesses have $50,000 in debt or less (Federal Reserve Board of Governors, 2022)

19. Over 50% of small businesses say inflation is their top challenge (U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 2023)

Small Business Success vs. Failure Statistics

 20. 44% of small businesses reported revenue increases in 2022. And 18% recorded no change in revenue. (Federal Reserve Banks, 2023)

21. About 80% of small businesses survive their first year. And close to 50% remain open for at least five years. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2023)

22. Female-owned small businesses have an average annual revenue of $263,092. That compares to an average annual revenue of $469,372 for male-owned small businesses. (Biz2Credit, 2023)

23. In 2020, 1.02 million small business establishments permanently closed (SBA Office of Advocacy, 2023)

24. 82% of small businesses fail due to poor cash flow management (U.S. Bank, 2023)

Small Business vs. Large Corporation Statistics

25. Small businesses have accounted for over 40% of gross domestic product (GDP) over the past few decades (SBA Office of Advocacy, 2018)

26. Both small and large firms recovered all the jobs lost during the second quarter of 2020 by the third quarter of 2022 (SBA, 2023)

27. In 2017, the average large company spent $330 million on research and development (R&D). But the average small company spent only $6 million on it. (Harvard Business Review, 2019)

Statistics on the Characteristics and Habits of Small Business Owners

28. The average age of a small business owner is 46 years old (Zippia, 2023)

29. The average salary of a small business owner is $69,119 per year (PayScale, 2023)

30. 52% of small business owners have a bachelor's degree. And 21% have an associate degree. (Zippia, 2023)

31. 15% of small businesses are owned or partially owned by a veteran (Federal Reserve Banks, 2023)

32. More than 50% of small business owners say they're working more hours now compared to last year (U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 2023)

33. In 2019, about 28% of small business firms with employees were family-owned (SBA Office of Advocacy, 2023)

Marketing Statistics for Small Businesses

34. 15.3% of small business owners manage their own marketing. And 56.9% of small businesses have a team of in-house marketers (Campaign Monitor, 2023)

35. Only 25% of small businesses have a website—a key part of many marketing efforts (GoDaddy, 2023)

36. About 70% of small businesses use Facebook for marketing. About 64% use email marketing. And about 43% use paid search. (Campaign Monitor, 2023)

37. Email marketing had the highest return on investment out of all channels for small business marketers in 2023 (Campaign Monitor, 2023)

38. Small business marketers rank influencer marketing and SEO marketing as the most difficult channels to leverage (Campaign Monitor, 2023)

39. Nearly 50% of small business owners say their marketing efforts are effective (Keap, 2020)

Tip

Succeeding on social media is easier when you leverage a tool like Social Analytics. Which gives you insights into when your followers are online, which of your posts generate the most engagement, and much more.

Small Business Cybersecurity Statistics

 40. There were 1,037 cyber incidents against small businesses in 2021 (Verizon, 2021)

41. 93% of cyberattacks against SMBs are financially motivated (Verizon, 2021)

42. 65% of small businesses manage their cybersecurity in-house (Bullguard, 2020)

43. 50% of small businesses say it took them longer than 24 hours to recover from a cyberattack (Bullguard, 2020)

44. 50% of small business owners say their employees receive no cybersecurity training (Bullguard, 2020)