The number of Black-owned businesses in the US are growing: Here are the largest sectors

About six-in-10 Black adults say supporting Black businesses is an extremely or very effective strategy for gaining movement towards equality in the U.S., according to a survey from the Pew Research Center. As previously reported by USA TODAY, the number of Black-owned businesses compared to the number of Black Americans in the U.S. is disproportionate. Black Americans make up about 12.4% of the country’s population, but Black business owners represented only 2.4% of all employer-firm owners. This disproportionate representation of business owners goes the opposite way for white Americans, who made up a majority (86%) of employee-firm owners, while representing about 59% of all people living in the U.S. The number of Black-owned businesses is up 14% from 2020, according to the Census Bureau. There were 161,031 Black or African American-owned businesses in operation in 2021, with $183.3 billion in annual receipts, according to the most recent data available. These sectors have the most Black-owned firms Black-owned firms employed about 1.4 million people, according to the 2022 Annual Business Survey. These businesses collectively paid $53.6 billion in annual payroll. More than a quarter (45,015) of these businesses were in the Health Care and Social Assistance sector. The second largest sector...