Top Entrepreneur Statistics To Know When Starting Your Business

An incredible 75% of entrepreneurs say they’re somewhat or very happy with their businesses. Among these are 66.5% whose motivation for running a business is changing the world. 

Nevertheless, 14.5% of businesses never make it past their first birthday, and this digit rises to 65.3% after the 10-year mark. 

The latest entrepreneur statistics do tell a compelling story — the only question is whether your passion, quality, and dedication are enough for you to beat the marketplace odds.

Let’s dive deeper into the entrepreneurship reality.  

Key entrepreneur statistics: 10 most important stats

Before we delve deeper, take a look at the top 10 most fascinating — and somewhat shocking — statistics about entrepreneurs we could find:

• 49% of small business owners are Gen X.
• 77.9% of US entrepreneurs are white.
• 47% of small business owners are Republicans.
• A great majority of US entrepreneurs (86%) have a university degree.
• 66.5% of entrepreneurs say their top motivation to start a business was the fact that they wanted to make a difference in the world.
• A whopping 75% of entrepreneurs say they’re somewhat or very happy with their business ventures.
• 45.8% of entrepreneurs want to work on their stress levels and reduce or eliminate stress and other mental health concerns. 
• North Dakota is the best state to start a business in the US. 
• 77% of entrepreneurs expect their businesses to survive in today’s economy.

General US entrepreneurship statistics 

As per the SBA’s data from 2025, there are around 3,628 million small businesses in the United States, and they make up a whopping 99.9% of all businesses in the US.

For further insight, we turned to the 2025/2026 GlobalEntrepreneurship Monitor Report. According to its data, there are 2 key indicators to consider when trying to learn how many people are actually entrepreneurs:

• Total early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) — the proportion of the adult population (aged 18 to 64) who are owners or managers of a new business, and 
• Established Business Ownership (EBO) — the percentage of adults in the same age group who currently own or manage an established business.

This report’s latest statistics about entrepreneurs in the US show: 

• The TEA for the United States is 17.7%, which is a slight decrease from 19.3% in 2025.
• The EBO rate in the US is just under 5.5%, which is also a bit lower than last year’s 6.9%, but significantly lower compared to the 9.2% from 2023.  

While the rate of established business ownership is declining, different entrepreneur trends are emerging to change these gloomy statistics. 

The public attitude toward entrepreneurship in the US

The 2025/2026 GEM Report investigated whether starting a business was viewed as negative or positive in a particular country.

To learn more about the public perception of entrepreneurship in the US, the researchers behind the report asked adults aged 18 to 64 to consider the following statements:

Data source: 2025/2026 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report

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Most entrepreneurs decided to start a new independent business

As stated in Guidant Financial’s 2025 Small Business Trends report, in the previous year, small business owners in the US opted to:

• Start a new franchise — 35% of entrepreneurs,
• Buy an independent business — 29%, 
• Start new independent businesses — 27%, and
• Buy an existing franchise — only 10% of respondents.

The retail industry is still the most popular among US entrepreneurs

Market changes dictate which small business industries will be the most popular among entrepreneurs — and in 2025, there were some subtle shifts at play.

The top 5 industries in Guidant Financial’s 2025 Small Business Trends report were:

• Retail — 15%,
• Food and restaurants — 13%,
• Health, beauty, and fitness — 9%,
• Residential and commercial services/Business services — 8%, and
• General business services — 7%.

The first 3 spots have traditionally been reserved for retail, food and restaurants, and health, beauty, and fitness. However, what has changed since 2024 is that construction and contracting have given way to general business services, and they no longer belong to the top 5 industries among entrepreneurs. 

How much does starting a business in the US cost?

As stated in Guidant Financial’s 2025 Small Business Trends report, here’s the percentage of employees and the amount of money they spend to start a business: 

• 3% — spend less than $50,000 to start a business,
• 12% — spend over $1 million,
• 16% — spend between $500,000 and $1 million, and
• 30% — spend between $100,000 and $500,000 to get started.

How much money an entrepreneur will spend on starting a business depends on numerous factors such as size, location, number of employees, etc. 

How much do US entrepreneurs earn?

According to Indeed.com’s entrepreneur salary statistics: 

• The average base salary for a US entrepreneur at the time of writing is $112,134 per year. However, keep in mind that this entrepreneur data is based on a small number of salaries reported through the website. 
• Entrepreneurs earn the highest salary in New York, NY — $179,783 per year — which is 77,56% above the reported national average.
• By comparison, entrepreneurs in Dallas, Texas, earn only $45,437 per year. That is 55,12% below the reported national average. 

The profitability of small businesses has decreased 

According to the latest data provided in Guidant Financial’s 2025 Small Business Trends report, 64% of the surveyed business owners said their businesses were currently profitable, indicating that despite the economic downturn, they’ve found a way to stay afloat. 

According to the same report, the profitability of small businesses has slightly decreased in comparison to the previous year, when it was 65%. 

What are the best and worst states to start a business in the US?

Forbes Advisor recently published its latest ranking of the best states to start a business. When comparing the states, Forbes relied on 18 different metrics across 5 categories to determine the best and the worst states for starting a business:

• Business costs,
• Business climate,
• Financial accessibility,
• Economy, and
• Workforce. 

Currently, the top 10 states ideal for starting a business are:

Data source: Forbes Advisor — The Best States to Start a Business

According to the same research, the 10 worst states for starting a business are:

Vermont is a US state that creates the most opportunities for its residents

Essentially, opportunity rankings indicate which states embody the US “land of opportunity” narrative. These rankings show us which states help their citizens harness their potential to accomplish their goals and rank the highest in terms of:

• Equality, 
• Economic opportunity, and 
• Affordability.

Per the U.S. News’ Best States opportunity rankings, these are the top 10 US states according to the level of opportunity they provide.

Florida is a US state with the best economy

Taking into account the overall business environment, labor market, and economic growth, the U.S. News has also provided a top 10 list of states with the best economic conditions:

How are entrepreneurs handling today’s economy?

According to Guidant Financial’s 2025 Small Business Trends report: 

• 65% of entrepreneurs said they were somewhat unconfident or very unconfident in their small businesses in today’s economy, which is a sharp increase from 47% in 2024. 
• 36% of the surveyed business owners were somewhat or very confident in their small businesses amidst these economic conditions, which is a slight increase from 2024, when 33% felt this way. 
• 19% held a neutral stance.

Aside from that, inflation has been felt across the board and has affected not only profitability but also expenses. Respondents in Guidant Financial’s report said the main ways the current economy had affected their businesses were:

• Increased prices — 27%,
• Revenue loss — 16%, 
• Increased wages — 10%, and
• No impact at all — 7%. 

Ultimately, when asked if they expected their businesses to survive in today’s economy: 

• 77% answered positively, 
• 19% were unsure about it, and
• 3% gave a negative answer, which is a decrease of 2% from 2024, where 5% were not optimistic about their business’s survival. 

US entrepreneurs’ plans for the upcoming year

Guidant Financial’s 2025 Small Business Trends report shows the following year is going to be a big one for most entrepreneurs, given that:

• 25% plan to hire more people,
• 20% want to put more funds into digital marketing, and
• 17% plan to change their office or something about it (remodeling, redecorating, or changing location).
• 11% are eager to invest in traditional marketing.

According to the latest data from the US Chamber of Commerce, 38% of small business owners believe that the US economy is in good health. In line with this: 

• 42% of the respondents plan on expanding their workforce.
• 44% are looking to increase their business investment.

As the US president has announced a new tariff policy — which could amount to the largest tax increase since 1993 — there are bound to be some repercussions. The above-mentioned report from the US Chamber of Commerce shows:

• Only 11% of small businesses believe that across-the-board tariffs will positively impact their business, whereas 54% of them think these tariffs will have a negative effect. 
• Although more than half of the small business owners (54%) aren’t planning on taking any actions in response to tariff policies, almost a third of them (30%) are planning on raising prices or have already done that. 
• More than half of small business owners (56%) believe tax policies that are being considered by Congress and the White House will help their business, whereas 13% of them expect they will have a negative impact.

Key demographic statistics on entrepreneurship in the US

Do older generations still reign supreme in entrepreneurship, or are younger generations slowly but surely catching up with them? What about men and women — is the gender gap still as large and discouraging as before?

Well, entrepreneur data shows a large percentage of entrepreneurs belong to Generation X, which includes people born anywhere from 1965 to 1981. To be precise, the 2025 Small Business Trends report by Guidant Financial shows:

• 49% of surveyed small business owners are Gen X. 
• 30% of surveyed small business owners are Baby Boomers.
• 21% of the surveyed small business owners in 2025 are Millennials. 

As far as gender goes, it seems men are still more likely to dabble in entrepreneurship. Guidant Financial’s 2025 Small Business Trends report shows: 

• 75% of the surveyed small business owners are male. 
• 25% are female, which is a slight decrease compared to 2024, when this number was 26%.

Whether this is a temporary trend or a more permanent one remains to be seen, since this type of business trends in entrepreneurship can last for decades. 

The majority of entrepreneurs in the US are white

According to the 2024 Small Business Profile report, a great majority of entrepreneurs were white (77.9%). 

When it comes to surveyed business owners of color, who make up 22.1% of entrepreneurs in the US: 

• 36% of them were Black or African-American, 
• 31% were of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin,
• 21% were Asian or Asian-American, 
• 6% were Middle Eastern or North African,
• 4% were Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and
• 2% were Indigenous American. 

A great deal of entrepreneurs are well educated 

Guidant Financial’s 2025 Small Business Trends report showed that out of all the surveyed entrepreneurs:

• 43% had a Bachelor’s degree,
• 27% had a Master’s degree,
• 15% had a High School diploma, 
• 10% had an associate degree, and
• 5% had a doctorate.

The political affiliation of US entrepreneurs 

The previously mentioned report by Guidant Financial showed:

• 47% of the surveyed small business owners belonged to the Republican party.
• 30% maintained they were unaffiliated with any of the US political parties.
• 17% of the surveyed entrepreneurs said they were Democrats.
• 6% of respondents said they were Libertarians.

Statistics on entrepreneur motivations and challenges

According to Guidant Financial’s 2025 Small Business Trends report, small business owners usually decide to start their own ventures because they:

• Want to be their own boss — 28%,
• Have lost faith in traditional jobs — 22%, or
• Were laid off — 10%.

The main motivations of US entrepreneurs

The 2025/2026 GEM Report gives us further insight into the motivation of US entrepreneurs — in particular, of those who fall into the TEA category. When asked to agree with 4 defined motivations behind entrepreneurship, this is how they responded:

Data source: 2025/2026 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report

Challenges entrepreneurs face when running their businesses

The participants in Guidant Financial’s 2025 Small Business Trends report gave us some insight into the top 3 struggles entrepreneurs face today:

• Inflation and price increases — 22%,
• Lack of capital — 18%, and
• Recruiting and retention — 17%.

Attracting and retaining top talent

The talent gap is a major headache for small business owners. When it comes to attracting top talent, Guidant Financial’s 2025 Small Business Trends report showed the following positions were the most challenging to fill:

• Sales — 27%,
• Construction and maintenance — 18%, and
• Management — 14%.

To widen their potential talent pool and to retain employees, entrepreneurs lean on the following strategies: 

• Increased compensation — 24%,
• Benefits such as improved workplace culture & career growth — 16%, and
• Expanded recruitment advertising — 10%. 

Hopefully, these business trends in entrepreneurship for retaining top talent will yield the desired results. 

The majority of entrepreneurs are happy

As per the latest data from Guidant Financial’s 2025 Small Business Trends report, optimism continues to run deep among entrepreneurs: 

• 75% of business owners report feeling very happy or somewhat happy, which is an increase of 12% compared to last year’s 67%.
• 12% report feeling very unhappy and somewhat unhappy.
• 12% feel neutral.

Still, this doesn’t mean stress isn’t a huge part of an entrepreneur’s life. 

According to Incfile’s 2023 Small Business Challenges report, 47% of entrepreneurs would like to reduce or otherwise eliminate stress and other mental health concerns. 

Similarly, a newer Founder Reports’ Entrepreneur Mental Health Statistics (2024) showed that 45.8% of entrepreneurs struggle with high stress. 

Based on that, it’s possible to conclude that though there are many benefits of entrepreneurship — this life path also includes a fair amount of stress.

Yet, the failure of a business is not necessarily a bad thing. The GEM 2025/2026 report shows that within 48 economies surveyed, in all but one (Ecuador), adults who have exited a business in the past 12 months usually intend to start another business. 

The fear of failure doesn’t prevent them from venturing into something entirely new, because they’ll be more resilient, more experienced, and wiser the next time. 

Entrepreneur survival rate statistics

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, slightly more than a third of businesses (34.7%) established in 2015 were still operating 10 years later. 

Here are the statistics for survival rates for the entire private sector in the US:  

The industries with the highest survival rate were: 

The industries with the lowest survival rate were:

Are late bloomers really late for starting a business? 

Many people fear that once they reach a certain age, they’ll be too old to start a new business. According to research, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. 

A National Bureau of Economic Research study found that the actual average age for starting a business is 42. But it gets even better as the US Census Bureau study revealed that the fastest-growing businesses were started by 45-year-olds on average. 

Mind you, this is just the average. Colonel Sanders founded KFC when he was way older than 42, or 45 — he was 62. The Entrepreneur article on late bloomers further highlights the impact of life experience, resilience, and a deeper understanding of people’s needs.

Years are not an obstacle to entrepreneurial success — they’re an invaluable asset that gives you the edge over the competition. 

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Bootstrapped vs. VC-funded business success rates

Some of the most famous bootstrapped businesses include Mailchimp, Shutterstock, and Spanx. Uber, Airbnb, and Meta are famous examples of VC-funded businesses. 

We can conclude that success can exist at both sides of this entrepreneurial spectrum, but which way is better for you? 

According to the Allied Venture Partners article, the bootstrapped businesses have a 35-40% 5-year survival rate, compared to 10-15% of VC-funded companies. Similarly, bootstrapped companies have a 25-30% chance of profitability, which is much higher than just a 5-10% chance in VC-founded businesses. 

Apart from these digits, the financial pressure is much lower in bootstrapped companies, and the level of control is high, which is not the case if you decide to have your company funded externally. 

Statistics on global entrepreneurship

Is entrepreneurship accepted globally as well as it is in the US? The latest GEM report offers all the answers.

As mentioned previously, TEA (adults who are nascent entrepreneurs or new business owners or managers) and EBO (adults who are owners or managers of established businesses) show us the percentage of individuals in each country who are actively starting or running a new or established business.

The 2025/2026 GEM Report provided the TEA and EBO percentages for 51 participating economies. Here are the top 10 countries (TEA): 

Data source: 2025/2026 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report

For reference, the United States occupies the 18th spot in this countdown with a TEA of 17.7%.  

Here are the top 10 countries when EBO is concerned:

Data source: 2025/2026 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report

Here, the United States scores 5.5% and ranks as the 30th country with the highest EBO. 

The best countries for entrepreneurship overall

GEM researchers define the entrepreneurial context of the participating economies through Entrepreneurship Framework Conditions (EFCs). 

To determine how healthy the entrepreneurship environment is across participating countries, the 2025/2026 GEM Report referred to a key indicator known as the National Entrepreneurship Context Index (NECI). NECI is calculated by averaging each economy’s EFC scores.

Here are the NECI scores of the 53 countries that took part in the survey:

Data source: 2025/2026 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report

The age of entrepreneurs around the world

According to the 2025/2026 GEM Report, younger people are more likely to delve into the world of entrepreneurship. The data covered individuals looking to start or run a business in 2 age groups: adults aged 18 to 34 and 35 to 64.

The table shows the ranking for the younger group, with the highest TEA.

Data source: 2025/2026 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report

Here’s the ranking of the older group, starting with the highest TEA.

Data source: 2025/2026 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report

Men and women as entrepreneurs

The 20225/2026 GEM Report showed that in most countries, the male TEA rate was higher than the female TEA rate, indicating a gender gap on a global level. 

There were 7 economies where the female TEA rate surpassed the male one:

Data source: 2025/2026 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report

These rates confirmed that entrepreneurship was still male-dominated around the world. The EBO rates confirmed this, too, as female EBO rates did not surpass male EBO rates in a single country. According to the 2024/2025 report, the situation was slightly better, when female EBO rates surpassed male EBO rates in 1 country — Thailand, where female EBO was 12.0% and male EBO was 11.5%.

In comparison to 2 years prior, according to the 2024/2025 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report, there were 3 economies where the female EBO surpassed the male EBO:

Data source: 2024/2025 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report

Education level of entrepreneurs around the world

The 2024/2025 GEM Report also inquired about the highest level of education that entrepreneurs worldwide had attained. The results showed that even though you don’t need a degree to be an entrepreneur — it definitely helps. 

GEM calculated the TEA rate for both graduates and non-graduates across the 51 participating economies. The data showed the TEA rate for graduates exceeded that of non-graduates in 47 countries — the only exceptions were:

• Brazil, 
• Egypt, 
• Greece, and 
• Lithuania.

The highest TEA rate for graduates was reported in Argentina at 39.7%, while the lowest was found in Poland at 2.9%. 

On the other hand, the highest TEA rate for non-graduates was in Ecuador at 33.3%, whereas the lowest was reported in Romania at 1.8%. 

The reasons entrepreneurs start their businesses

The 2025/2026 GEM Report also investigated the reasons someone might start a business, asking survey respondents to somewhat or strongly agree with 4 predefined motivations.

Here are the motivations that were the most prevalent according to GEM’s findings:

Data source: 2025/2026 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report

Data source: 2025/2026 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report

As for which sectors were dominant across the globe, GEM didn’t go into too much detail. The research covered 2 very broad categories as percentages of TEA:

• Business-related services and 
• Consumer-oriented services. 

Per the latest findings, the highest percentages of TEA for consumer-oriented services in 2024 were noticed in Mexico (83.6%). Meanwhile, the highest percentage of TEA for business-related services was found in Slovenia (over 43.9%).

The reasons entrepreneurs exit their businesses

The GEM Adult Population Survey tried to learn how many entrepreneurs had exited their businesses in the past 12 months. Using that data, the 2025/2026 GEM Report showed the highest percentages of business exits were noticed in Angola (35%) and Oman (18%).

The same survey inquired about the reasons for these exits and categorized them into:

• Positive (e.g., another business opportunity or a chance to sell the business) and 
• Negative (e.g., unprofitability, high taxes, bureaucracy, etc.). 

Entrepreneurs’ concerns about their social impact

According to the 2025/2026 GEM Report, strong social and environmental concerns could be noticed among early-stage entrepreneurs who have already taken steps to minimize their environmental impact and/or maximize their social impact.

Data source: 2025/2026 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report

Early-stage entrepreneurs prioritize environmental sustainability 

The previously mentioned 2025/2026 GEM Report shows an impressive percentage of early-stage entrepreneurs (84%) across 48 economies who always consider social implications and/or environmental impacts when making decisions about the future of their business. 

These are the top 5 countries with the highest scores in this category:

Data source: 2025/2026 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report

The same report shows that in 31 of 48 economies, early-stage entrepreneurs aged 35-64 are more likely to prioritize sustainability over profits or growth than younger ones aged 18-34.

Here are the top 5 countries with the highest percentage of early-stage entrepreneurs who prioritize environmental sustainability over profit: 

Data source: 2025/2026 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report

It is comforting to know that environmental sustainability comes over profit, and we hope these digits will continue to grow in the years to come. 

Running your own business is both demanding and rewarding

Statistics can show us ongoing challenges, trends, and upsides of being a business owner, but at the centre of these numbers is a human with a unique set of values, ideas, and hopes. 

So, if you’re having second thoughts about opening a business, or if you’re struggling with your current one, just remember that a failed business isn’t necessarily the end of the world. You can open a new one and use all the acquired knowledge to make it succeed. 

And while you can start or close a business, change industries, paths, and goals, what is vital is that you hire the right people for the job and choose the right tools that will support your growth.