Latino-owned Business Growth Outpaces Total US Business Growth

By Angelo Falcón (November 23, 2015)

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According to preliminary results from the Census Bureau's 2012 Survey of Business Owners (SBO), Latino-owned businesses in the United States increased by 46.9 percent in 2007-2012 compared to 0.7 percent in total business growth in this same period. These economic surveys are conducted once every five years and

2012 is the latest available.

The 2012 survey found 3.3 million Latino-owned businesses , with receipts totaling over $517 billion. These Latino-owned businesses made up 12 percent of total businesses. Among the Latino-owned businesses, Mexican-owned firms were 49.1 percent of the total, Cuban 8.5 percent, Puerto Rican 7.8 percent, and other Latinos 34.0 percent.

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More than two-thirds (72.5 percent) of Latino-owned businesses were concentrated in only four states. These were: California (24.9 percent), Texas (21.0 percent), Florida (18.5 percent) and New York (8.1 percent).

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In terms of average receipts, they were only $155,806 for Latino firms compared to $573,209 for non-Latino firms. There was a wide variation in average receipts for Latino firms by state, from a low of $59,779 in Rhode Island, to a high of  $1,426,507 in the state of Washington. Among the four states with the largest number of Latino firms, the average receipts in New York were the lowest at $89,992, compared to    $157,483 in Florida.
The majority of Latino-owned businesses were male-owned (51.5 percent), compared to 55.3 percent of non-Latino firms. Female-owned businesses were better represented among Latino firms (44.4 percent) than non-Latino firms (35.3 percent).
Racially, 80.4 percent of non-Latino firms were owned by those identifying as White, compared to 65.6 percent of White Latinos who owned Latino firms. Black Latinos owned 3.4% of Latino firms, compared to 10.2 percent of non-Latino firms owned by Blacks.
The survey also has limited data by industry.

2012 SURVEY OF BUSINESS OWNERS

The Bureau of the Census has released preliminary results from its 2012 Survey of Business Owners (SBO). Approximately 1.75 million businesses were selected for the 2012 SBO asking for information about characteristics of the businesses and their owners. The preliminary SBO data are available for:
  • Gender, ethnicity, race, and veteran status
  • Geography (U.S. and states)
  • Industry (2-digit NAICS for selected geographies)
The final revised data is scheduled to be released in December 2015 and will include expanded geography (U.S., states, metropolitan area, counties and places) and industry (2- through 6-digit NAICS) detail.
To be notified upon the release of the final revised data, please sign up to get email updates.

Related

"What Limits Hispanic Entrepreneurs" By Karen E. Klein, Bloomberg Business (September 4, 2012)

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The NiLP Report on Latino Policy & Politics is an online information service provided by the National Institute for Latino Policy. For further information, visit www.latinopolicy. org. Send comments to editor@latinopolicy.org.