The Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy has released a new report on veteran-owned businesses. The report gives a detailed profile of this robust business population based on the latest available data, the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2012 Survey of Small Business Owners.
- In 2012, the United States had 21.2 million veterans, and 2.52 million businesses were majority-owned by veterans.
- Almost all of veteran-owned businesses (99.9 percent) were small businesses.
- Veteran-owned firms had receipts of $1.14 trillion, employed more than five million people, and had a combined annual payroll of $195 billion.
- These firms represent 9.1 percent of all U.S. firms.
- The three states with the most veteran-owned businesses were California, Texas, and Florida.
- Georgia ranks 6th among states with the most veteran-owned businesses. According to the report, there are 96,787 veteran-owned firms in Georgia.
- The three states with the highest percent of veteran-owned businesses in their populations were South Carolina, New Hampshire, and Virginia. Georgia ranks 16th among the states, with 10.4% of all businesses being veteran-owned businesses.
- The report shows that in 2012, veteran-owned businesses in Georgia reported sales of $35,745,281. This means veteran-owned businesses in Georgia ranked 6th in revenues, behind California, Texas, Florida, New York and Pennsylvania.
The report is entitled “Veteran-Owned Businesses and Their Owners: Data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Business Owners.” It is one of the only large-scale compilations of data on veteran-owned businesses in the United States, and it provides valuable data for analytical and policy-making.
The full report is available on the Office of Advocacy’s website at https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/advocacy/435-veteran-owned-businesses-report.pdf and the research summary can be seen here.
