In 2007, U.S. military veterans owned 2.4 million businesses, which accounted for 9.0 percent of all businesses nationwide, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. These businesses generated $1.2 trillion in receipts, or about 4.1 percent of all business receipts nationwide, and employed nearly 5.8 million people.
All in all, businesses where veterans were majority owners or half-owners numbered 3.7 million, representing 13.5 percent of all businesses nationwide, accounting for more than $1.6 trillion in receipts and employing 8.2 million people.
The new data come from the Survey of Business Owners (SBO): Veteran-Owned Businesses: 2007, which provides the first-ever detailed information for all veteran-owned businesses in the United States, including number of firms, sales and receipts, number of paid employees and annual payroll. Statistics are also shown for nonveteran-owned businesses, as well as for businesses that are equally owned by both veterans and nonveterans.
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.
Of the 2.4 million veteran-owned businesses in 2007, 491,344 had paid employees. These businesses employed 5.8 million people and their payrolls totaled $210.0 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, 2.0 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.