2025 Small Business Revenue Statistics + Tips To Boost Yours - Vena

This year, small businesses continue to navigate inflation, global shakeup due to tariffs, high interest rates, and shifting consumer behavior. While some have agilely adapted, others feel the squeeze of rising operating costs and labor shortages. 

As technology rapidly evolves, many small businesses are also grappling with how to balance tight budgets and limited resources against the need for digital transformation. 

From cybersecurity threats to increased competition from e-commerce giants and AI-driven operations, countless digital challenges threaten small business revenue. Understanding how these issues affect small business revenue is critical for effective financial planning. 

In this post, we’re rounding up the latest and most compelling small business revenue statistics, offering insights into performance trends across industries and business sizes. 

By comparing your business’s performance to these data points, you can identify opportunities, benchmark performance, and make informed decisions to build resilience and long-term growth.

Key Small Business Revenue Statistics

• American small businesses earn an average annual revenue of $1,221,884.
• The average profit margin recommended for small businesses ranges between 7% and 10%.
• Small business owners are looking for help managing finances, with 71% using business budgeting software.
• There was a 30% difference between average revenue in male-owned and female-owned small businesses in 2024.
• 78% of small businesses are planning on growing this year. 
• Accounting for 34,752,434 companies, 99.9% of all American companies are small businesses.
• 89% of small businesses feel it’s challenging to recruit qualified candidates.
• Small businesses have created 61.1% of all new jobs since 1995. 

The Average Revenue for Small Businesses Is $1,221,884 

Many small businesses generate substantial revenue—with the overall average across all US small businesses being $1,221,884—contributing substantially to the overall economy. 

However, many small businesses fall within the lower revenue brackets. Let's explore some key statistics to understand this distribution in more detail.

1. The average small business revenue across all types of small businesses is $1,221,884, based on the $40.2 trillion in revenue brought in by the 32.9 million small businesses in the United States.¹
2. The average revenue for small businesses with no employees is $47,794, based on the 27.2 million such businesses that achieved $1.3 trillion in revenue in 2020.¹
3. The average monthly revenue across all small businesses was $531,900 in March 2025, a YoY decrease of $161,000.² 
4. 35.6% of all private sector revenue comes from small businesses, totaling $13.3 trillion.³ 
5. A 2023 survey of over 1,000 small business owners revealed that 34% have a revenue of less than $50,000, and only 9% have a revenue of over one million dollars.⁴
6. Despite their size, small businesses generate a remarkable 32.6% of the known value of U.S. exports.⁵
7. In 2024, male-owned average small business revenue was $675,643, while female-owned average small business revenue was $475,707—a 30% difference. ⁶

What is a Good Profit Margin for a Small Business?

It’s important to understand the relevancy of profit margins—which measure the amount of profit a company earns for every dollar of revenue—to a business's success.

Let's explore some key statistics on profit margins and other financial metrics specific to small businesses, and how they can impact your financial health.

1. For small businesses, a healthy profit margin typically falls between 7% and 10%.^{7, 8}
2. The average small business owner brings in an annual salary of $69,647, exceeding the national average wage by 6%.⁹  
3. For self-employed small business owners, the average annual income comes in at $51,816.¹⁰
4. The top three profitable industries for small businesses based on net margin are: tobacco (31.96%), entertainment software (27.43%), and retail REITs (25.47%).¹¹
5. A Bank of America survey found that 55% of small business owners achieved higher business revenues in 2023 than in 2022.¹²

1. To stay afloat, 70% of small business owners (SBOs) have made sacrifices for their business, resorting to measures like raising prices (47%), working longer hours (45%), and even cutting their own salaries (32%).¹²
2. Nearly two-thirds (around 65.3%) of small businesses in the United States were profitable in 2022.¹⁰
3. Over 46% of the $368 billion in small business loans in 2019 were under $100,000, suggesting a significant reliance on credit cards, which can strain profit margins across industries.¹³ 
4. The top three most profitable digital small businesses to consider starting based on average profit margin are: podcast production (39.1%), software company (18.3%), and social media management (6.9%).¹⁵
5. Bank loans, also known as debt financing, are a popular financing method, with 71% of small employers holding outstanding debt in 2023. This is 8% lower than its 2020 peak and similar to pre-pandemic levels.³
6. 71% of small business owners are using business budgeting software to help manage finances.¹⁴

Small Business and Revenue Growth Trends

Despite facing a challenging economic climate in 2025, with declining profits and historically low optimism, many small businesses remain resilient. 

Researchers have noted a trend toward staff expansion and the implementation of digital marketing strategies, which suggests a focus on growth and building a strong foundation for the future. Millennial ownership may partially influence this trend—the generation is comfortable with digital tools and potentially more willing to invest in long-term growth strategies. 

But it’s also interesting to observe that a majority of small businesses aren’t applying artificial intelligence to their work. This slow adoption rate of AI leaves room for a potential gap in leveraging technology for further optimization.

1. Small business owners believe the top priorities for the federal government should be: addressing inflation (54%), expanding benefits like health care, retirement, and paid leave (37%), and tax policy reform (34%).¹⁶
2. Regulatory red tape and compliance issues are holding back small businesses, according to 57% of small business owners.¹⁶

1. In 2024, staff expansion tops business priorities (24%), followed by digital marketing (18%), with fewer focusing on remodeling (17%) and traditional marketing (10%).¹⁷
2. In 2025, 69% of small businesses felt optimistic about their financial path, with 78% planning to grow this year.¹⁶
3. In 2025, 46% of small business owners plan to add new jobs, but 37% believe they’ll maintain the same number of positions because of how much an employee costs.¹⁶
4. Between 2023 and 2024, the number of millennial small business owners increased by 27%, while the number of baby boomer-owned small businesses dropped by 7%.¹⁷
5. Artificial intelligence is not being applied to business operations in 83% of small businesses.¹
6. Significantly more businesses (30%) reported declining profits in May 2024, according to a survey from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).¹⁸

1. The Small Business Optimism Index dropped to 97.4 in March 2025, just below the historical average of 98.¹⁹ 
2. However, a 2024 Guidant survey delivered results in direct contrast to the Optimism Index, with 77% of small business owners stating they are confident their businesses will survive the current economy.¹⁷
3. Among new small businesses in 2024, 58% are independent, and 42% are franchises.¹⁷

General Small Business Statistics

The small business landscape is a powerful economic driver with a massive presence and significant job creation in the US especially. As they contend with challenges like inflation and staffing shortages, these businesses remain highly engaged in monitoring their financial performance. 

The small business landscape is a powerful economic driver with a massive presence and significant job creation, especially in the US. As they contend with challenges like economic uncertainty, inflation, and staffing shortages, these businesses remain highly engaged in monitoring their financial performance.

1. In the U.S., 99.9% of all companies are small businesses, totaling 34,752,434 individual companies.³ 
2. Small businesses bring in 43.5% of the United States' gross domestic product.³ 
3. Representing 81.9% of all small businesses, over 28 million have no employees, often referred to as “nonemployer firms.”³
4. When asked how often they review their company’s financial statements and reports to track financial performance, most small business owners said weekly (34%), daily (21%), or monthly (19%).⁴

Small Business Ownership

The overall landscape of small business is becoming more inclusive. Data suggests a continuing rise in small business ownership by diverse groups of people, including women, Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders.

1. A 2023 survey shows the top concerns of small business owners to include: inflation and supply costs (75%), cost of health care for employees (69%), increased interest rates (57%), and workforce shortages (53%).²⁰ 
2.  Small businesses are responsible for 61.1% of net new job creation since 1995, with 20.2 million net new jobs created between 1995 and 2023.³
3. Small businesses in the US typically employ around 11 people, with a significant difference between newly established firms (averaging six employees) and those operating for over 20 years (averaging 58 employees).³
4. Among small businesses hiring, 89% find it challenging to recruit qualified candidates.¹⁵
5. Nearly half (48%) of all businesses fail within five years, but more than half of small businesses will close in the same period.^{21, 3}
6. 1.4 million businesses opened for the first time in 2022, with startups comprising 15.7% of all businesses. ³

Small Business Ownership

The overall small business landscape is becoming more inclusive. Data suggests a continuing rise in small business ownership by diverse groups of people, including women, Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders.

1. As of 2019, women owned 12,338,407 small businesses, employing almost 10.8 million employees and making $2.1 trillion in sales.²² 
2. Black business owners owned 3,589,567 small businesses in 2019, employing over 1.2 million and bringing in $217.3 billion in sales.²³ 
3. Small businesses owned by Asian American Pacific Islanders totaled 3,032,516, employing over 5.2 million and accounting for $958.8 billion in sales.²⁴
4. By 2021, 27.3% of all small businesses were family-owned, and the majority (72.8%) had less than 10 employees.²⁵
5. Currently, almost 5 million Hispanic-owned businesses are employing approximately 3 million workers, representing a 34% increase in Hispanic business owners over the decade before the pandemic.²⁶
6. Nearly 1 in 4 new small businesses are Hispanic-owned.²⁶

Facts About Small Businesses by Industry

The landscape of small businesses is diverse, encompassing a wide range of industries. From the backbone of manufacturing to the vibrant world of leisure and hospitality, small businesses play a vital role in every sector. 

The chart below details the distribution of small businesses across several key industries, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the total corporate profits each industry earned in the last quarter of 2024, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

While the trade and transportation sector houses the most small businesses, the manufacturing industry has the highest corporate profits. The massive profits seen in manufacturing over the past year are believed to be largely due to benefits seen from the Inflation Reduction Act.

How To Reach $1 Million+ in Revenue for Your Small Business

The journey to a million dollars in revenue requires dedication and strategic planning.

To help you achieve this, we put together a four-step roadmap to reaching that coveted revenue milestone. Each step features best-in-class examples, showcasing how other businesses have successfully unlocked revenue potential.

1. Look Ahead With Supply Chain Planning

Disruptions in your supply chain can cripple your operations and damage your customer relationships. This is where proactive supply chain planning comes in.

By closely monitoring your inventory levels, supplier performance and industry trends, you can anticipate potential issues and develop strategies to mitigate them. This proactive approach ensures you have the materials you need to fulfill orders and keep your business running smoothly.

Case Study: Nutanix

Challenge: Nutanix, an enterprise cloud computing company, struggled with siloed data and inaccurate forecasts due to reliance on offline spreadsheets. This hampered its ability to respond to changing market conditions.

The Vena solution: Implementing Vena’s cloud-based planning platform helped them to quickly address these challenges. Its user-friendly interface, data integration with existing systems (Salesforce, NetSuite), and scalability allowed Nutanix to centralize its planning processes. 

2. Understand Your Customers

The foundation of any successful business is a deep understanding of who you're serving. It's not about selling to everyone. 

Focusing on a specific niche allows you to tailor your product, develop a precise marketing strategy and appeal directly to your customers' desires. This ultimately helps you build stronger relationships and command premium prices.

Understanding which customers are your most profitable through data analytics can help you identify which audiences you should—and shouldn’t—be going after. 

Case Study: MountainSeed

Challenge: Real estate consultancy firm MountainSeed had limited visibility into its financial performance, making it difficult to allocate resources effectively. Previously, revenue planning relied on analyzing "a massive grid of numbers," hindering the ability to identify trends and prioritize investments.

The Vena solution: By implementing Vena, they were able to transform their operations with a new approach. They gained insights into individual client profitability and product line performance and used that data to strategically invest in their most successful offerings. This granular view of their data allows them to identify new revenue opportunities and make informed decisions about resource allocation.

3. Strengthen Your Cost Optimization 

You might discover that a specific marketing channel isn't delivering the desired return on investment or that a particular supplier offers less competitive pricing. Monitoring your financial performance enables you to jump on opportunities to adjust your resource allocation accordingly.

Profitability hinges on managing your expenses effectively. Financial planning software tackles this challenge by offering a centralized platform to record, categorize and analyze all your business's financial data.

Case Study: Excision BioTherapeutics

Challenge: Excision BioTherapeutics, a 30-person biotech startup, grappled with data integrity issues in its financial reporting, making it hard to manage its budget. Manual data gathering took weeks, leading to outdated reports and hindering cost control. 

The Vena solution: By leaning on Vena’s financial planning software, Excision BioTherapeutics transformed its operations, choosing Vena for flexibility, Excel native interface and template drill-down functionalities. 

The results: Data aggregation went from multiple weeks to a single week, the startup cut variance analysis time in half, and expense tracking capabilities uncovered cost-saving opportunities. 

Sal Amato, Director of FP&A at Excision BioTherapeutics, states:

“As we grow, we will need to understand how our cash flow rolls into our P&Ls and differentiate between cash and accrual accounting … Our board is always interested in our cash position and so are our investors. Having a strong tool in place where we can capture our goals as an organization with our work streams and correlate that to our spend is very important to our Board."

4. Keep a Close Eye on Crucial Metrics To Power Up Your Growth

Data is the key to unlocking growth for your small business. Identifying which metrics are the most crucial for your unique business and making those data points easily accessible to your team is essential for keeping a pulse on the business’s success. For instance:

• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) helps you identify the most cost-effective marketing channels.

• A high Net Revenue Retention (NRR) indicates a loyal customer base, which is essential to long-term success.

• And Human Capital Efficiency measures your revenue per employee, highlighting areas to improve training or streamline workflows.

Case Study: Sprout Social

Challenge: A growing company, Sprout Social, realized its financial analysis needed an upgrade. 

The Vena solution: They incorporated new metrics like CAC and lifetime value into their financial reporting with help from Vena to identify the most cost-effective ways to gain new customers. Additionally, efficiency ratios provided insights for optimizing operations.

The results: This data-driven approach empowered the company to refine its customer retention strategies, fuel targeted marketing initiatives, and confidently plan for ambitious future goals.    

Taking Control of Your Own Revenue Data

Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, driving innovation and job creation. Taking charge of your financial data empowers your team to make informed decisions that propel your business forward.  

You don’t need to tackle this journey on your own. With easy-to-use budgeting and forecasting solutions like those offered by Vena, you’ll have a powerful financial reporting and planning platform specifically designed to meet the needs of your growing business.

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