For the first time on record, more than 200,000 Black-owned businesses in the United States have at least one paid employee. The milestone comes from the Census Bureau's Annual Business Survey, which counts employer firms, the companies far enough along to make payroll.
The growth behind the number is the story. Between 2017 and 2023, Black-owned employer businesses grew 62 percent, adding nearly 77,000 firms while employer businesses nationwide grew just over 3 percent. In 2023 those firms generated a combined $249 billion in revenue, employed more than 1.8 million people, and paid $69.8 billion in salaries.
The gap has not closed. Black Americans are 14.4 percent of the population and 3.4 percent of employer-business owners. But the direction is unmistakable, and it is the same direction this publication files under every week: more owners, more payrolls, more of the economy held rather than rented. The 200,000 mark is a floor now, not a ceiling.
“This is payroll growth, not side-gig formation: real firms, real employees, real checks.”
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