Your anonymous survey response will help inform decisions that impact the future of small businesses like yours. The survey takes 10–12 minutes to complete and is open to all for-profit businesses with fewer than 500 employees.
Startup firms owned by people of color were more likely than white-owned startups to expect to add employees in next year but less likely to be approved for financing.
Nonemployer firms are less likely to be profitable than their employer firm counterparts, and they face more substantial challenges accessing credit.
Firms in Focus is a series of chartbooks presenting Small Business Credit Survey data across various business and owner demographic characteristics, as well as by state and metropolitan statistical area (MSA).
Small business revenue, employment, and profitability each improved from 2021, but expectations worsened year-over-year. With the end of pandemic-related funding programs, the application rate for traditional financing rebounded to prepandemic levels.
The 2021 Small Business Credit Survey (SBCS) found that 1 in 10 small employer businesses suffered losses from a natural disaster during the prior 12 months.
Most businesses with no employees other than the owner earned lower revenues in 2021 than they did before the pandemic. These nonemployer firms continued to be less likely than employer firms to seek pandemic-related financial assistance.
