Name: 82.3% of US small businesses have no employees (29.8 million nonemployer firms) (2022)
Creator: US Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy
License: Public domain (US government work)

In plain words

What this number really says

82.3% of US small businesses have no employees (29.8 million nonemployer firms) (2022).

82.3%

the latest figure (2022)

Small

company size covered

Official data

type of source

Why you can trust it. US Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business; Small Business Profiles: official data, government statistics office or regulator. Census Nonemployer Statistics 2022 and Statistics of US Businesses 2022.

Key facts

Period 2022
Region USA
Company size Small
Next data FAQ yearly

Source: US Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business; Small Business Profiles, 2022

Method and use

How it was measured, and how to use it

How it was measured

Publisher: US Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business; Small Business Profiles
Source type: Official data: Government statistics office or regulator
What it measures: 82.3% of US small businesses have no employees (29.8 million nonemployer firms)
Data period: 2022 (ends 31 Dec 2022)
Published by the source: 3 Feb 2026
Who is counted: Census Nonemployer Statistics 2022 and Statistics of US Businesses 2022.
In the source's words: 82.3 percent, or 29,811,495 firms, have no employees (termed “nonemployer firms”) and 17.7 percent, or 6,395,635 firms, have paid employees (termed “employer firms”).
Checked at source: 23 Oct 2026: Read in the SBA FAQ 2026 PDF, question 2.
Reuse: Public domain (US government work). Free to reuse; credit SBA Office of Advocacy.
Next expected update: FAQ yearly (US Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, fAQ yearly (early in the year); state profiles yearly)
Original page: advocacy.sba.gov: Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business; Small Business Profiles
Data files: CSV · JSON (stable links)

Full change log

No changes recorded yet. First checked at the source on 23 Oct 2026.

Cite this number

APA

US Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy. (2026). 82.3% of US small businesses have no employees (29.8 million nonemployer firms). Via digitaltreed, https://digitaltreed.com/statistics/small-business/small-business-nonemployer-share

MLA

"82.3% of US small businesses have no employees (29.8 million nonemployer firms)." US Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business; Small Business Profiles, 2022. digitaltreed, https://digitaltreed.com/statistics/small-business/small-business-nonemployer-share.

HTML link

<a href="https://digitaltreed.com/statistics/small-business/small-business-nonemployer-share">82.3% of US small businesses have no employees (29.8 million nonemployer firms)</a> (US Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, 2022)

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<iframe src="https://digitaltreed.com/statistics/embed/small-business-count-by-type" width="640" height="420" loading="lazy" title="US small businesses, with and without employees (millions)"></iframe>
<p>Source: <a href="https://digitaltreed.com/statistics/small-business/small-business-nonemployer-share">82.3% of US small businesses have no employees (29.8 million nonemployer firms), digitaltreed</a></p>

CSV

Keep the source link under the chart. The chart updates when the number does.

FAQ

Questions about this number

What is the latest figure for businesses (USA)?

82.3% of US small businesses have no employees (29.8 million nonemployer firms), for 2022, according to US Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business; Small Business Profiles. We checked it at the source on 23 Oct 2026.

36.2M

small businesses in the US, 99.9% of all firms; 82.3% of them have no employees

Sample: Count of all firms with fewer than 500 employees, from Census Statistics of US Businesses 2022 and Nonemployer Statistics 2022.

US Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business; Small Business Profiles, 2022 data (FAQ Feb 2026)

Official dataSmallUSA

4.34M

small businesses in California, the most of any state; Texas has 3.52M and Florida 3.49M

Sample: SBA Office of Advocacy 2025 Small Business Profiles for the States, Territories, and Nation.

US Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business; Small Business Profiles, 2025 state profiles

Official dataSmallUSA

24.3%

of US businesses with 1 to 4 employees used AI in any business function in the two weeks before the survey

Sample: About 1.2 million US employer businesses in six panels; each panel reports every 12 weeks. Estimate for firms with 1 to 4 employees.

US Census Bureau, Business Trends and Outlook Survey, Oct 2026

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Group	Firms (millions)
No employees	29.8
With employees	6.4

82.3%of US small businesses have no employees (29.8 million nonemployer firms)

US small businesses, with and without employees (millions)

What this number really says

Key facts

How it was measured, and how to use it

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Get the numbers when they change

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82.3%About 8 in 10of US small businesses have no employees (29.8 million nonemployer firms)

US small businesses, with and without employees (millions)

What this number really says

Key facts

How it was measured, and how to use it

Questions about this number

More Small business statistics

Get the numbers when they change

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82.3%of US small businesses have no employees (29.8 million nonemployer firms)