{"id":1877,"date":"2026-09-29T16:03:51","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T11:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=1877"},"modified":"2026-09-29T16:03:51","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T11:03:51","slug":"black-owned-us-employer-businesses-cross-200000-for-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=1877","title":{"rendered":"Black-owned US employer businesses cross 200,000 for first time"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

For the first time in US history, the number of Black-owned employer businesses crossed 200,000 firms.<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to US Census Bureau data, these businesses generated $249 billion in revenues and provided employment to more than 1.8 million people.<\/p>\n

The growth is also reflected in wages, with a Brookings Institution study, Black employers are reaching new heights<\/em>, finding that Black-owned employer businesses paid a combined $69 billion in wages in 2023.<\/p>\n

Black Americans make up 14.4% of the US population and own about 4.6 million businesses.<\/p>\n

But most of these are small, one-person operations. Around 4.4 million Black-owned businesses had no employees in 2023, although they generated $128.7 billion in revenue.<\/p>\n

Andre Perry, director of the Brookings Centre for Community Uplift, said the growth in Black-owned employer businesses challenged narratives that Black Americans were not experiencing economic progress.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you recognise the real growth that\u2019s actually happening,\u201d Perry said, \u201cyou are cutting through the constant narrative that Black people aren\u2019t doing well or there\u2019s no growth or there\u2019s just disparity.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the expansion also pointed to wider economic opportunities, adding that greater participation by different groups could strengthen the prospects of achieving the American dream.<\/p>\n

Don Cravins, CEO of the National Minority Supplier Development Council, said a key challenge was helping more Black entrepreneurs expand their businesses and create jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of black entrepreneurs,\u201d Cravins said. \u201cHow do we get them to have employees? How do we get them to grow, to scale?\u201d<\/p>\n

Black-owned businesses continue to face challenges including tariffs, high inflation and uncertainty surrounding federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies.<\/p>\n

Cravins, whose organisation represents about 16,000 member businesses, said concerns about losing contracts because of what he described as an unfair backlash against DEI remained a major issue.<\/p>\n

He said minority-owned companies were seeking opportunities to compete rather than special treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo minority business I\u2019ve ever run across says, \u2019Hey, just give me something for nothing,\u2019\u201d Cravins said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want access. They want an opportunity to be seen, to be heard and to compete\u2014to win on their own laurels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Against this backdrop, ForbesBLK compiled a list of 25 Black-owned or Black-led employer businesses and entrepreneurs it identified as contributing to the growth of Black business ownership in the US.<\/p>\n

The companies include a food manufacturer that produces all of McDonald\u2019s sauces, a construction company whose clients include Meta and Apple, and World Wide Technology.<\/p>\n

ForbesBLK said it consulted venture capitalists, business organisations and Forbes journalists and lists while identifying companies for the selection.<\/p>\n

To qualify, businesses needed to generate at least $75 million in annual revenue, while venture-backed startups needed a valuation of at least $100 million.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the first time in US history, the number of Black-owned employer businesses crossed 200,000 firms. According to US Census Bureau data, these businesses generated $249 billion in revenues and provided employment to more than 1.8 million people. The growth is also reflected in wages, with a Brookings Institution study, Black employers are reaching new heights, finding that Black-owned employer businesses paid a combined $69 billion in wages in 2023. Black Americans make up 14.4% of the US population and own about 4.6 million businesses. But most of these are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1877\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}