Black-Owned Businesses Skyrocket

The number of black-owned businesses increased by 60.5 percent to 1.9 million over the last five-year period measured, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's Survey of Business Owners. Over the same period, receipts generated by black-owned businesses increased 55.1 percent to $137.5 billion.

"Black-owned businesses continued to be one of the fastest growing segments of our economy, showing rapid growth in both the number of businesses and total sales during this time period," said Census Bureau Deputy Director Thomas Mesenbourg.

By industry: Based on the figures for 2007, Nearly 40 percent black-owned businesses operated in the in one of the following sectors: health care and social assistance, repair, maintenance, personal services, and laundry services. The retail trade and health care and social assistance sectors accounted for 27.4 percent of black-owned business revenue.

By state: New York 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 (9.6 percent) and Florida, with 181,437 (9.4 percent).

By county: Cook, Ill., 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., with 52,705 businesses (2.7 percent).

By city: New York 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).

The Survey of Business Owners defines black-owned businesses as firms in which blacks or African-Americans own 51 percent or more of the equity, interest, or stock of the business.


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