Growth of Minority-Owned Employer Firms Outpaces Growth for All Firms

Data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs shows that the number of minority-owned firms with paid employees increased by 5 percent in 2015 compared to 2014. This growth was more than double the rate for employer firms as a whole. In 2015, there were 996,248 minority-owned employer firms in the United States.

The data also shows that the payroll for minority-owned firms increased by 7 percent from 2014 to 2015. The payroll of all minority-owned employer firms was $254 billion in 2015. Employment at these firms increased by 6.2 percent to 8 million employees.

California led the nation in the number of minority-owned employer firms. The New York City metropolitan area had the most minority-owned employer firms among the nation’s 50 largest cities.