Main Street Monday – First Generation Owns About 20% of U.S. Small Businesses

October 24, 2022

Delaney Sexton
Contributing Editor

Main Street Monday – First Generation Owns About 20% of U.S. Small Businesses

Last week, the SBA Office of Advocacy released an overview of immigrant business ownership in the United States. They report that immigrants own businesses at higher rates than individuals born in the United States and are found in every industry of the U.S. economy.

Here are the facts:

• In 2018, immigrant small business owners comprised 18% of business owners with employees.
• Of small businesses without employees, immigrant business owners made up nearly a quarter (23%) of them in 2018.
• 27.2 million workers or 17% of workers were immigrants in 2018.

• Immigrants more frequently owned businesses in accommodations and food services, retail trade, health care and social assistance, miscellaneous services, and professional services.
• Immigrant-owned small businesses made up 36.8% of all accommodation and food service businesses in the United States.

• Of businesses without employees, immigrant business owners make up almost half of the transportation and warehousing sector or 1.2 million of the 2.6 million businesses.
• Immigrant business owners make up over a quarter of administrative services businesses with no employees.
• Immigrant small business owners with no employees take up over 20% of the construction and miscellaneous services sectors, and just under 20% of the real estate sector.

Source:
Small Business Facts – An Overview of Immigrant Business Ownership