Number of Small Business Employees in the US in 2022
As more and more small businesses in the US are established, the number of small business employees has naturally also increased.
In 2022, the number of employees in a small business in the US hit 61.7 million. This means that small business employees make up 46.4 percent of the total number of US employees.
Even though this marks a 0.82 percent increase from 2021’s 61.2 million, it’s one of the slowest increases over the past few years. In comparison, the growth rates for 2021 and 2020 were 0.99 percent and 1.17 percent, respectively.
From 2017 to 2022, the US economy added 3.8 million small business employees to its workforce—a 6.6 percent increase over the entire period.
How Many Employees Does a Small Business Have?
According to the US Small Business Administration, “small businesses” are defined as companies that hire fewer than 500 employees.
Around 9.1 million (or 14.8 percent) of all small business employees belong to health care and social assistance, the industry with the most number of small business employees. This is followed by the accommodation and food services and the construction industries, with 8.8 million and 5.7 million, respectively.
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Number of Employees in a Small Business by State
As the US’s most populous state with nearly 40 million residents, it should come as no surprise that the West Coast state of California is also home to the biggest number of small business employees.
There are 7.4 million of them in California, which is 47.9 percent of the state’s total number of employees. Incidentally, the two biggest shipping ports in the US are also located in California.
The state with the second-highest number of employees in a small business is Texas. At 4.9 million, they represent 44.5 percent of the state’s total number of employees.
New York has the third most small business employees with 4.1 million, while Florida comes in fourth with 3.6 million. Pennsylvania is in fifth place with 2.6 million.
At the bottom of the list, Wyoming is the state with the fewest small business employees.
Here are the five states with the fewest employees in a small business:
- Wyoming: 132,595
- Alaska: 138,517
- Vermont: 157,131
- Delaware: 195,792
- North Dakota: 196,770
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