Behind The Numbers

Census Data Shows Increase in Latino Business Ownership

As the U.S. population has become more diverse, so has ownership of the nation’s businesses

Latinos have made tremendous gains in business ownership, most concentrated in the construction sector. — As the U.S. population has become more diverse, so has ownership of the nation's businesses. There were more Hispanic-owned businesses overall and more minority-owned businesses in various sectors in 2020 than a decade earlier, according to the Census Bureau's 2021 Annual Business Survey.
— Image courtesy of Flckr; charts courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau

As 2023 comes to its inevitable close, the wistful reflections of what ‘was’ filled the media, and the U.S. Census Bureau isn’t immune to such nostalgic wont. The Census released a ‘look back’ news bulletin on Wednesday showing how the business sector has changed, with Latino businesses gaining ground.

There were more Hispanic-owned businesses overall and more minority-owned businesses in various sectors in 2020 than a decade earlier, according to the Census Bureau’s 2021 Annual Business Survey.

The diversity of business owners mirrors the changing profile of the nation’s population. The 2020 Census found that the population of nearly all race and ethnicity groups in the United States had grown since 2010, with the exception of the White population, which declined during the decade.

Approximately 20% or 1.2 million of these employer businesses were owned by minorities. They employed about 9.9 million employees and had annual payroll of $357.4 billion.

U.S. Business Ownership

In 2020, there were a total of 5,775,258 U.S. firms in all sectors. They employed about 129,363,644 workers and had a total annual payroll of $7.3 trillion.

Approximately 20% or 1.2 million of these employer businesses were owned by minorities. They employed about 9.9 million employees and had annual payroll of $357.4 billion. Business ownership among some racial and ethnic groups was concentrated in certain industries.

Earlier in 2023, the U.S. Department of Commerce launched the Capital Readiness Program grant competition, which dedicates $93.5 million to help minority and other underserved entrepreneurs launch and scale their businesses.

The program, administered by the Minority Business Development Agency, marks the largest program of its kind in the history of the Commerce Department.

Hispanic Ownership

Hispanic-owned businesses grew about 8.2%, from 346,836 in 2019 to 375,256 in 2020, and made up about 6.5% of all companies in the United States in 2020.

In 2020, Hispanic-owned businesses yielded about $472.3 billion in annual receipts and employed about 2.9 million employees. The highest number of Hispanic-owned firms was in the Construction sector.

Figure 1. Number of Minority-Owned U.S. Employer Construction Firms: 2020

Hispanice Business Chart 1.jpg

Other sectors in which Hispanic-owned businesses outnumbered those owned by other minority groups in 2020: Transportation and Warehousing; Administrative and Support; and Waste Management and Remediation Services.

Hispanice Business Chart 3.jpg

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Bryan Gottlieb is the online editor at Engineering News-Record (ENR).

Gottlieb is a five-time Society of Professional Journalists Excellence in Journalism award winner with more than a decade of experience covering business, construction, and community issues. He has worked at Adweek, managed a community newsroom in Santa Monica, Calif., and reported on finance, law, and real estate for the San Diego Daily Transcript. He later served as editor-in-chief of the Detroit Metro Times and was managing editor at Roofing Contractor, where he helped shape national industry coverage.

Gottlieb covers breaking news, large-scale infrastructure projects, new products and business.