Small Business Facts

This "Portrait of Small Business USA," was created in response to small-business owners' frustrations about small-business data. The portrait takes a different look at the small-business universe in order to shed new light on how small businesses make our lives more meaningful and comfortable.

General Small-Business Facts

85 percent of Americans view small businesses as a positive influence on American life (NFIB, 2001).

Small businesses account for more than 40 percent of the offline economy (IDC, January 2001).

An estimated 25.5 million small businesses in America employ more than half of the country's private workforce, create three of every four new jobs, and generate a majority of American innovations (Small Business Administration, 2000).

Small businesses represent more than 99 percent of all employers (Small Business Administration, December, 2000).

Online Small-Business Facts

Small businesses and home offices account for 40 percent of all technology investment in the United States (IDC, January 2001).

Five million small businesses and 15 million income-generating home offices still don't have a web site, and fewer than 5 percent of small businesses that are online have been selling products and services online for longer than a year (IDC, January 2001).

By 2004, small e-merchants — those with fewer than 10 employees and less than $3 million in annual sales — could account for as much as 10 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product (Keenan Vision Inc., 2000).

About 3.4 million nonresidential small businesses now have Internet access, along with 7.4 million small-business branch offices (Cyber Dialogue, June 2000).

Today 84 percent of small businesses have PCs, 57 percent have Internet access, 21 percent have web sites, and 18 percent have high-speed access (AMI International, May 2000).

An estimated 85 percent of small businesses will be conducting business over the Internet by 2002 (Small Business Administration, June 2000).

Small-Business Revenue Facts

Small companies will see their online sales grow 336 percent to $120 billion from 2000 to the end of 2002 (Ami-Partners, Inc. 2000).

The average annual income of a small business utilizing the Internet is $3 million per year compared with an average of $1.9 million for small businesses in general (IDC, April 2000).

Women- and Minority-Owned Business Facts

More than three million businesses are minority-owned, and this number is growing (Dun & Bradstreet, 2001).

There are more than 9.1 million women-owned businesses — accounting for more than a third of all U.S. companies — and this number is growing (Dun & Bradstreet, 2001).

Return to Small Business Web Design

Home - web design & hosting

TOP