Small business by the numbers: from minimum wage to sacrificing your sex life

A small-business owner. Photograph: Martin Godwin

• Number of small businesses in the United States: 28.2m

• Number of workers employed by small businesses: 55m

• Most recent year in which more small businesses were started than ones that were shut down: 2000

• Number of employees a business must have to be considered “small”: fewer than 500

• Percentage of small businesses that consist of a single employee: 79.9%

• Jobs eliminated by big business since 1990: 4m

• Jobs added by small businesses in the same period: 8m

• Percentage of small businesses owned by minorities: 14.6%

• Percentage of small businesses owned by veterans: 9.1%

• Percentage of small businesses owned by women: 36%

• Percentage of female entrepreneurs who said they have had to sacrifice their sex lives for their small business: 22%

• Stress of owning a small business compared to the stress of raising a child: x3

• Percentage of men who don’t want their children to be part of their small business: 27%

• Percentage of male business owners who list confidence as their strongest asset: 30%

30% of male business owners list confidence as their strongest asset Photograph: Hero Images/Hero Images/Hero Images/Corbis

• Percentage of small business owners who are concerned about the effectiveness of US government leaders: 75%

• Most small business-friendly states according to business owners: Utah, Idaho, Texas, Virginia and Louisiana

• Worst states for small business according to business owners: California, Rhode Island, Illinois, Connecticut and New Jersey

• Percentage of small business owners who feel that they pay the right amount of taxes: 64%

• Percentage of small business owners who feel that Obamacare will have a negative impact on their businesses: 41%

• Percentages of business owners who say they would offset the negative impact of Obamacare by halting future hiring: 38%

• Amount of loans to small businesses at the end of the first quarter in 2014: $585bn

• Percentage drop in loans to small businesses between 2008 and 2014: 18%

• Percentage of small business employers who turn to credit cards to finance their businesses: 14.5%

• Current national hourly minimum wage: $7.25

• Percentage of business owners who approve of the move to raise the national minimum wage to $9.50: 47%

• Percentage of entrepreneurs who feel that raising the minimum wage would hurt small businesses: 60%

• Percentage of business owners who would reduce their workforce if minimum wage was raised: 28%

• Percentage of small business owners who would reduce worker benefits if minimum wage was raised: 31%

• Percentage of small business owners who feel that they are operating successfully: 70%

• Percentage of small business owners who are “very happy” with what they are doing: 77%

Sources: SBA Office of Advocacy, Intuit Payments, Bank of America, Thumbtack, The Main Street Alliance, The Wall Street Journal, Gallup, The Hartford.