In 1997, there were 823,500 Black-owned businesses in the United States, employing 718,300 people and generating $71.2 billion in revenues. These businesses accounted for 4 percent of the 20.8 million nonfarm businesses in the nation and 0.4 percent of the $18.6 trillion in receipts for all businesses.

The number of Black-owned firms, excluding C corporations,,¹ for which prior comparable data are not available, increased 26 percent from 1992 to 1997, compared with a 7 percent increase for all U.S. firms. Their receipts rose 33 percent over the same period, slightly lower than the 40-percent increase for all firms.

Almost 4 in 10 (38 percent) of Black-owned businesses were owned by women. Black-owned firms were considerably more likely to be owned by women than either Hispanic, Asian and Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaska Native-owned firms. Men were owners of about 55 percent of the firms owned by each of the four minority groups.

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¹ C corporations are incorporated businesses, excluding subchapter S corporations whose shareholders elect to be taxed as individuals rather than as corporations.