Black Owned Businesses

(by Shandira Pavelcik)

In 2007 there were a total of 1.9 million Black owned business in the United States, an increase of 60.5% from 2002. Receipts generated by Black-owned businesses during the same time period increased 55.1% to $137.5 billion

In 2007 nearly 4 in 10 black-owned businesses operated in the health care and social assistance; and repair, maintenance, personal and laundry services sectors. The retail trade and health care and social assistance sectors accounted for 27.4 percent of black-owned business revenue.

EMPLOYED PAYROLL

Of the 1.9 million black-owned businesses in 2007, 106,824 had paid employees, an increase of 13.0 percent from 2002. These businesses employed 921,032 people, an increase of 22.2 percent; their payrolls totaled $23.9 billion, an increase of 36.3 percent. Receipts from black-owned employer businesses totaled $98.9 billion, an increase of 50.2 percent from 2002.

NO EMPLOYEE PAYROLL

In 2007, 1.8 million black-owned businesses had no paid employees, an increase of 64.5 percent from 2002. These nonemployer businesses’ receipts totaled $38.6 billion, an increase of 69.0 percent.

RECEIPTS

The number of black-owned businesses with receipts of $1 million or more increased by 35.4 percent to 14,507 between 2002 and 2007

STATES

Black-owned businesses accounted for 28.2 percent of businesses in the District of Columbia, which led the nation, followed by Georgia, where 20.4 percent of businesses were black-owned, and Maryland, where 19.3 percent of businesses were black-owned.

Among states, New York State had 204,032 black-owned businesses and accounted for 10.6 percent of the nation’s black-owned businesses, followed by Georgia, with 183,874 black-owned businesses (9.6 percent) and Florida, with 181,437 (9.4 percent). “

COUNTIES

Among counties, Cook, Ill. (Chicago), had the most black-owned businesses, with 83,733, accounting for 4.4 percent of all the nation’s black-owned businesses. Los Angeles followed with 59,680 (3.1 percent) and Kings, N.Y. (Brooklyn), with 52,705 businesses (2.7 percent).

CITIES

Among cities, New York City had the most black-owned businesses, with 154,929 (8.1 percent of all the nation’s black-owned businesses), followed by Chicago, with 58,631 (3.1 percent), Houston, with 33,062 (1.7 percent) and Detroit, with 32,490 (1.7 percent).

SOURCE: US Census 2007 Survey of Business Owners (SBO)