The rise in entrepreneurship following the initial setbacks of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a surge in new business applications. Data from the Census Bureau shows that business applications remained stable from 2017 to 2019, but between April and July 2020, they more than doubled from 235,695 to 546,415. This upward trend continued through 2022, with 423,977 applications filed in December of that year.
A significant portion of this growth was driven by Black-owned employer businesses, which are firms with at least one employee. Between 2017 and 2022, the number of these businesses increased by 56.9%. Out of the 132,000 new employer businesses established during this period, at least 70,000—more than half—were Black-owned.
