Survey of Business Owners (SBO)

Survey of Business Owners - Veteran-Owned Firms: 2007

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

In 2007, veterans of the U.S military owned 2.4 million nonfarm businesses operating in the fifty states and the District of Columbia. These veteran-owned firms accounted for 9.0 percent of all nonfarm businesses in the United States, employed 5.8 million persons (4.9 percent of total U.S. employment) and generated $1.2 trillion in receipts (4.1 percent of total U.S. receipts). In addition, 1.2 million nonfarm U.S businesses (4.5 percent of all nonfarm businesses) were equally (50-percent/50-percent) owned by veterans and nonveterans.

In 2007, nonveterans owned 22.6 million nonfarm U.S. businesses. Of the 27.1 million nonfarm U.S. businesses, 801,978 firms were publicly held firms and other firms not classifiable by gender, ethnicity, race, and veteran status.

These data come from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2007 Survey of Business Owners (SBO) and were collected as part of the 2007 Economic Census. The SBO includes a sample of more than 2.3 million nonfarm businesses filing 2007 tax forms as individual proprietorships, partnerships, or any type of corporation, and with receipts of $1,000 or more.

In the SBO, businesses are defined by veteran status as either:

• All firms classifiable by veteran status, in which companies could be:
  • Veteran-owned. Veterans of the U.S military own 51 percent or more of the interest or stock of the business.
  • Equally veteran-/nonveteran-owned. Veterans own 50-percent and nonveterans own 50 percent of the interest or stock of the business.
  • Nonveteran-owned. Nonveterans own 51 percent or more of the interest or stock of the business.
• Publicly held and other firms not classifiable by veteran status.

Table 1 [pdf, 132K; csv, 5K] shows the number of firms and value of receipts for all veteran-owned businesses in 2007. Chart 4 [pdf, 46K] and Chart 5 [pdf, 45K] show the distribution of firms and the distribution of the value of receipts by veteran status in 2007.

Chart 2 [pdf, 46K] and Chart 3 [pdf, 46K] shows employment size and receipts size data for veteran-owned firms.

KIND-OF-BUSINESS CHARACTERISTICS

In 2007, 32.5 percent of veteran-owned firms operated in the professional, scientific, and technical services (NAICS 54) and the construction (NAICS 23) sectors. Table 5 [pdf, 605K; csv, 98K] and Chart 1 [pdf, 48K] show the distribution of veteran-owned firms by sector. Wholesale trade (NAICS 42) and retail trade (NAICS 44-45) accounted for 41.6 percent of veteran-owned business revenue.

GEOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS

California had the largest number of veteran-owned firms, 239,422 (9.8 percent of all veteran-owned firms), with receipts of $144.1 billion (11.8 percent of all veteran-owned firm receipts). Texas and Florida were next with 199,476 (8.1 percent of all such firms) and 176,727 (7.2 percent of all such firms) veteran-owned firms respectively. In Texas, receipts of veteran-owned firms with receipts of $95.3 billion (7.8 percent of veteran-owned firms' total receipts). In Florida receipts of veteran-owned firms totalled $61.9 billion (5.1 percent of veteran-owned firms' total receipts). Table 1 [pdf, 132K; csv, 5K] and Map 1 [pdf, 117K] show, for each state, the number of veteran-owned firms as a percentage of the total number of firms in that state in 2007.

Among U.S. counties, Los Angeles County, Calfornia, had the largest number of veteran-owned firms in 2007, 62,667 (2.6 percent of all veteran-owned firms). Table 2 [pdf, 134K; csv, 6K] shows, for the 50 most populous counties, the number of veteran-owned firms as a percentage of the total number of firms in 2007.

The three cities with the highest number of veteran-owned firms were New York City, with 41,261 (1.7 percent of all veteran owned firms), Los Angeles, with 25,897 (1.1 percent) and Houston, with 17,636 (0.7 percent). Table 3 [pdf, 134K; csv, 6K] shows, for the 50 most populous cities, the number of veteran-owned firms as a percentage of the total number of firms in each respective city in 2007.

Statistics for veteran-owned firms in the 50 most populous metropolitan statistical areas in 2007 can be found in Table 4 [pdf, 140K; csv, 8K].

EMPLOYER FIRM CHARACTERISTICS

The SBO collects data from both employer and nonemployer businesses. Employer businesses are firms with paid employees, including workers on the payroll and excluding sole proprietors and partners. Nonemployer businesses are firms without paid employees, including sole proprietors and partners of unincorporated businesses that do not have any other employees on the payroll.

In 2007, there were 491,344 veteran-owned employer firms. These firms employed 5.8 million persons, had a total payroll of $210.0 billion, and generated $1.1 trillion in receipts. In 2007, employer firms accounted for 20.1 percent of the total number of veteran-owned firms and 92.3 percent of such firms' gross receipts. Average receipts for these veteran-owned employer firms in 2007 were $2.3 million.

NONEMPLOYER FIRM CHARACTERISTICS

In 2007, 2.0 million veteran-owned firms had no paid employees. These nonemployer firms generated $93.8 billion in receipts. In 2007, nonemployers accounted for 79.9 percent of the total number of veteran-owned firms and 7.7 percent of the gross receipts of such firms. Average receipts for these veteran-owned nonemployer firms in 2007 were $47,931.

DATA COMPARABILITY TO PRIOR SURVEYS

The 2007 SBO provides the first ever estimates for all veteran-owned businesses in the United States. The 2002 SBO provided data only for the veteran-owned firms that responded to the survey.

The 2007 and 2002 SBO data were published according to the 2007 and 2002 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) respectively. Prior to the 2002 SBO, data were published according to the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. Additional changes affecting data comparability are discussed in detail in Methodology, in the section titled "Comparability of the 2007 and 2002 SBO Data."