Weeks ago, Congress enacted the CARES Act which includes an SBA Loan Program that offers forgivable loans to small businesses with 500 or fewer employees.  Within the Rural Capital Area, more than 20,000 small businesses would potentially qualify.  This latest count is from 2017 and likely several thousand more small businesses have been created since then.

The size of the small business community grew 33% over 10 years – an indication of the robust growth and economic vitality witnessed across the Rural Capital Area.

With this high threshold of 500 employees, small businesses account for more than 99% of all businesses in the region and the US.  Small businesses are measured on a per-establishment basis, counting individual locations as separate establishments (like a retailer) even if they are part of a large corporation. While payroll and employment data are not available down to the county level, at the US level small businesses account for 71% of all business payroll and 78% of all business employees.

By industry, most small businesses in the Rural Capital Area are in Retail Trade (2,800) followed by Construction (2,400), Professional Services (2,400), Health Care (2,100), and Accommodation and Food (2,000).

Click here to see more data on businesses by size in the Rural Capital Area and its component counties:
https://www.ruralcapitalheadlight.com/headlight/cbp