Small businesses account for 99.9% of all U.S. businesses and employ 61.6 million people, nearly half the entire U.S. workforce, according to a Forbes Advisor statistics roundup drawing on U.S. Small Business Administration data. For owners mapping out 2026 budgets, staffing, and sector positioning, those headline figures frame a landscape where small firms collectively drive far more economic activity than their individual scale suggests.
The roundup arrives at a moment when post-pandemic business formation has plateaued into a more normalized growth pattern, and when operators face higher financing costs alongside persistent labor tightness. A separate March 2026 Forbes report on entrepreneurship trends noted that more than 1 million Americans started small businesses in 2023 alone – many of them low-overhead, service-oriented ventures – but whether that surge in formation translates into sustained employer-firm growth remains an open question heading into 2026.
What the employment numbers say about small business hiring in 2026
SBA data cited in the Forbes roundup shows that small businesses have added 12.9 million net new jobs over the past 25 years, accounting for roughly two-thirds of all net job creation during that period. That long-run record matters for operators considering whether to add headcount – it signals that small-firm hiring, in aggregate, has been structural rather than cyclical.
The near-term picture is more sector-specific. The leisure and hospitality industry added an average of 52,000 jobs per month over the last year, the highest monthly average of any sector, while professional and business services added over 1 million new jobs in the same 12-month window. The overall labor market now sits 240,000 jobs above its February 2020 pre-pandemic level, with 5.8 million jobs added since the prior year – a recovery trajectory that gives small employers in high-demand sectors a concrete benchmark for what the competitive hiring environment looks like entering 2026.
For businesses in professional services, the data cuts both ways: the sector currently leads all industries in open job postings, which signals demand but also sustained difficulty filling roles. Owners in management, administration, and consulting should expect continued competition for skilled workers and plan compensation and retention accordingly. Recent survey data on small business spending patterns shows that owners are selectively increasing investment even under pressure – a pattern consistent with the hiring data here.
What the financial health data reveals about capital access and owner income
The Forbes Advisor roundup flags that the average small-business owner earns only about 16% more than the U.S. annual mean wage – a narrow margin relative to the risk, liability, and hours that ownership typically requires. That figure is relevant context for any 2026 compensation benchmarking or owner-draw planning.
The capital picture is more strained. Research aggregating SBA, Oberlo, and 99Firms data finds that 23% of small-business owners identify a lack of capital or cash flow as their single biggest challenge, and 66% report facing financial difficulties of some kind. Separately, Federal Reserve data summarized by Forbes shows that retail and hospitality small businesses have seen rising loan delinquencies as interest rates stayed elevated – a direct counterweight to the job-growth headlines in leisure and hospitality. Owners in those sectors planning to carry debt into 2026 should model higher financing costs into their projections rather than assume rate relief.
How the numbers break down by business size and sector growth outlook
The SBA data underlying the Forbes roundup shows a sharp structural divide within the small-business universe. Of the 33.3 million small businesses in the U.S., 27.1 million – more than 80% – are solo operations with no employees. Just 16% of small businesses, roughly 5.4 million firms, employ between one and 19 workers, and only 647,921 businesses fall into the 20-to-499 employee range that sits at the larger end of the SBA’s small-business definition.
That concentration of solo operators shapes what aggregate small-business statistics actually measure. Formation numbers and survival rates look different when the vast majority of the base is a single owner with no payroll. Owners evaluating their own growth trajectory against industry benchmarks should identify which cohort – no-employee, micro-employer, or small employer – their firm belongs to before drawing comparisons.
On the sector outlook, the Forbes roundup projects that home health and personal care will see the highest job growth of any industry over the next decade – an estimated 22% increase, translating to more than 804,000 new positions – driven primarily by an aging U.S. population. For small businesses already operating in adjacent health and wellness categories, BizBuySell data shows that health and wellness businesses saw price-to-sales multiples jump 18% in 2024, reflecting where buyers see durable long-term demand. The McKinsey research on small business succession and acquisition trends provides additional context on where valuations and ownership transitions are concentrating heading into the mid-2020s.
How small businesses can use these benchmarks in 2026 planning
Colorado State University economist Dawn Thilmany, writing in a May 2026 Forbes analysis of Main Street business trends, argues that policy focus for small firms has shifted from emergency relief to long-term competitiveness – specifically zoning flexibility, broadband access, and local capital availability. That framing aligns with the data: formation numbers are strong, but 66% of owners reporting financial difficulties and rising delinquency rates in credit-sensitive sectors suggest the headline counts overstate operational stability.
For 2026 planning purposes, the SBA employment and formation data support a few concrete reads. Firms in professional services should budget for elevated recruitment costs and consider whether part-time or contract structures reduce exposure to the sector’s persistent open-role problem. Firms in leisure, hospitality, or retail should stress-test their financing against continued elevated rates rather than forecasting cuts. And owners in or adjacent to home health and personal care – the sector with the highest projected decade-long job growth at 22% – have a data-backed case for expansion investment, provided their capital structure can absorb the near-term costs that the SBA and aggregated small-business research consistently show accompany growth phases.