GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Black-owned businesses only accounted for about 3% of companies in 2021, the Pew Research Center says.
Citing data from the Annual Business Survey, which is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Science Foundation, the Pew Research Center found that among businesses that can be classified by the race of their owners, only 3% were majority Black-owned in 2021.
That’s compared to 85% that were majority white-owned, 11% majority Asian American-owned and 7% majority owned by another racial and ethnic group.
The majority Black- or African American-owned firms in 2021 totaled 161,031, up from 124,004 in 2017, Pew says.
While the gross revenue of majority Black-owned businesses grew 43% between 2017 to 2021, the gross revenue only made up 1% of the total revenue of classifiable companies. That’s despite Black people making up about 14% of the American population that year, Pew says.
Black-owned firms tend to be smaller: Pew says two-thirds had fewer than 10 employees. The most common type of businesses were in the health care and social assistance industry, and most (87%) were in urban areas.
Most Black business owners were inspired to start their company because they were looking for a greater income, they wanted to be their own boss or they wanted “the best avenue for their ideas, goods and services,” Pew said.
That’s true for the owner of Balloonafied, a Black-owned balloon décor business in Grand Rapids that recently celebrated its expansion.
“If I can do this for someone else, if I can follow these processes, if I can be a star here … then I can do this for myself,” owner Shanta Abraham previously told News 8. “I’ve always wanted to do something or acquire something, to be really proud of myself.”