from staff
In 2007, U.S. military veterans owned 2.4 million businesses, which accounted for 9 percent of all businesses nationwide, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The businesses generated $1.2 trillion in receipts, or about 4.1 percent of all business receipts nationwide, and employed nearly 5.8 million people.
“Veteran-owned businesses make a valuable contribution to our economy, but until now, we did not have a benchmark that measured their role,” said Census Bureau Deputy Director Thomas Mesenbourg.
“This is the first time that we can estimate the total number of veteran-owned businesses,” he said.
Mesenbourg said the impact was greater “when you add to that total those businesses owned equally by veterans and nonveterans.”
In total, businesses where veterans were majority owners or half-owners numbered 3.7 million, representing 13.5 percent of all businesses nationwide and accounting for more than $1.6 trillion in receipts and employing 8.2 million people.
Nearly one-third of veteran-owned businesses, 32.5 percent, operated in the professional, scientific and technical services and the construction sectors.
The three states with the largest number of veteran-owned businesses in 2007 were California, Texas and Florida.
California had 239,422 veteran-owned businesses, or 9.8 percent of all veteran-owned businesses in the United States.
Texas had 199,476 businesses, or 8.1 percent, and Florida was home to 176,727 businesses, or 7.2 percent.
Los Angeles County, Calif., had more veteran-owned businesses in 2007 than any other county, with 62,667, or 2.6 percent of all veteran-owned businesses nationwide.
Other highlights:
• Of the 2.4 million veteran-owned businesses in 2007, 491,344 had paid employees. The businesses employed 5.8 million people and their payrolls totaled $210 billion. Veteran-owned employer business receipts totaled $1.1 trillion, with average receipts of $2.3 million.
• There were 270,852 employer businesses owned equally by veterans and nonveterans in 2007. These equally owned employer businesses employed 2.4 million people, and their payrolls totaled $74.6 billion. Equally owned employer business receipts totaled $364.8 billion, with average receipts of $1.3 million.
• In 2007, 2 million veteran-owned businesses had no paid employees. These nonemployer businesses generated receipts of $93.8 billion, with average receipts of $47,931.
• There were 948,883 nonemployer businesses owned equally by veterans and nonveterans. These equally owned nonemployer businesses generated receipts of $49.7 billion, with average receipts of $52,355.
• In 2007, there were 117,277 veteran-owned businesses with receipts of $1 million or more; the corresponding number for businesses owned equally by veterans and nonveterans was 60,547.
• There were 7,446 veteran-owned businesses employing 100 or more people; the corresponding number for businesses owned equally by veterans and nonveterans was 2,034.
The Survey of Business Owners defines veteran-owned businesses as firms in which U.S. military veterans own 51 percent or more of the equity, interest or stock of the business.
The Survey of Business Owners is conducted every five years as part of the economic census.