Bright & Bold
Digital Marketing Agency
Small Business Statistics
This page collects the small-business figures we cite most often in our work, drawn from federal surveys and federal data series. Bright & Bold Digital Marketing maintains it from our office in Temple City, California. Each figure names its source and the date of the release it came from, so any reader can trace a number back to the agency that published it.
How to cite: Bright & Bold Digital Marketing, "Small Business Statistics," brightboldmedia.com/small-business-statistics — figure originally published by [source named with the figure].
AI adoption
Nearly half of small employer firms now use AI in some part of the business. The Federal Reserve's survey counts any use by the business or its employees, including AI features built into software a firm already owned.
• 46% of employer firms reported that their business or employees were using AI for work. (Source: Federal Reserve Banks, 2026 Report on Employer Firms (2025 Small Business Credit Survey), March 2026.)
• 15% of firms were not using AI but planned to start within the next 12 months. 33% were not using it and had no plans to. (Source: Federal Reserve Banks, 2026 Report on Employer Firms, March 2026.)
• 63% of AI users rated AI somewhat or very important to producing their core goods or services. (Source: Federal Reserve Banks, 2026 Report on Employer Firms, March 2026.)
What firms use AI for
Owners reach for AI first at the desk. Customer-facing work sits near the bottom of the list. Shares below are of firms that use AI; firms could name more than one task.
• Writing or marketing — 83%
• Individual productivity — 61%
• Planning or analysis — 51%
• Administrative business functions — 38%
• Customer service — 29%
• Process automation — 21%
• Coding or coding assistance — 19%
(Source for all figures in this section: Federal Reserve Banks, 2026 Report on Employer Firms, March 2026.)
What AI has delivered so far
The gains owners report are real, and they cluster on the work itself. Sales gains trail well behind productivity gains, and labor costs have barely moved.
• 71% of AI users said AI use increased their productivity.
• 39% of AI users reported improved quality of goods and services.
• 31% of AI users reported increased sales from AI use.
• 77% of AI users said AI had not changed their labor costs.
(Source for all figures in this section: Federal Reserve Banks, 2026 Report on Employer Firms, March 2026.)
How deep adoption runs
Adoption is wide. Integration is shallow. Most firms are still in the trial phase, working AI into a few processes at a time.
• 49% of AI users described themselves as experimenting — testing tools or running pilots.
• 44% of AI users had partially integrated AI into some business processes.
• 7% of AI users had fully integrated AI across business functions.
(Source for all figures in this section: Federal Reserve Banks, 2026 Report on Employer Firms, March 2026.)
The challenges firms report
The Federal Reserve asked firms which operational problems they faced in the prior 12 months. Reaching customers finished first, and it finished first by a wide margin.
• 57% of firms named reaching customers and growing sales — the most common operational challenge on the list.
• 46% of firms named hiring or retaining qualified staff.
• 30% of firms named supply chain issues.
• 29% of firms named utilizing technology, a category that covers websites, social media, e-commerce, and cybersecurity.
• 73% of firms named increased costs of goods, services, and wages — the most common financial challenge.
(Source for all figures in this section: Federal Reserve Banks, 2026 Report on Employer Firms, March 2026.)
What holds firms back on AI
Current users point to output quality and fit. Firms still planning to adopt point to the search itself and the hours implementation takes. Firms staying out give a simpler answer: the tools do not apply to their work.
• 46% of current AI users named accuracy — bias and wrong information — as a challenge.
• 43% of current AI users named finding and adapting tools to meet business needs.
• 54% of firms planning to adopt named finding tools to meet business needs as their top challenge.
• 37% of firms planning to adopt named the time required to implement AI or train employees.
• 56% of firms with no plans to adopt said AI is not applicable to their business. 30% said they prefer not to use it.
(Source for all figures in this section: Federal Reserve Banks, 2026 Report on Employer Firms, March 2026.)
What owners expect next
Owners who use AI expect a stronger year than owners who do not. Federal Reserve Bank of New York economists measured expectations as a net score — the share of firms expecting growth minus the share expecting decline — and the gap held up after they accounted for firm and owner characteristics and recent performance. Their paper states the limit clearly: these are expectations, and the link between AI use and expected growth is an association. Whether the firms hit the numbers they forecast is still an open question.
• Net expected revenue growth: AI users +48, non-users +21.
• Net expected employment growth: AI users +33, non-users +15.
• After statistical controls, AI users kept a 14-point advantage in expected revenue growth.
(Source for all figures in this section: Aarons and Sarkar, "AI Adoption and Employment Expectations," Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Liberty Street Economics, October 8, 2026.)
Business survival in California
The Bureau of Labor Statistics follows every new business establishment from its opening year. The California figures below come from the March 2026 release. They measure establishments — single locations — and an exit can reflect a sale, a merger, or a retirement as well as a failure.
• 83.9% of California establishments survive their first year.
• 51.5% of California establishments reach year five.
• 34.1% of California establishments reach year ten.
(Source for all figures in this section: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics, as summarized by the SBA Office of Advocacy, March 2026 release.)
Methodology and sources
Small Business Credit Survey figures. The 2025 SBCS was fielded September 3 to November 14, 2025, and collected 6,525 responses from employer firms with 1 to 499 employees across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. AI questions appeared in an optional module answered by 5,248 firms. One limit matters: the SBCS is a convenience sample, not a random sample. The Federal Reserve weights responses against U.S. Census benchmarks for firm age, size, industry, geography, and owner demographics, and it flags the design in its own report. Read the figures as a carefully weighted snapshot of the firms that answered.
Survival figures. Business Employment Dynamics data track employer establishments from their opening cohort. State figures are published at the total private-sector level.
Full citations: Federal Reserve Banks. 2026 Report on Employer Firms: Findings from the 2025 Small Business Credit Survey. March 2026. https://doi.org/10.55350/sbcs-20260303 — Aarons, Will, and Asani Sarkar. "AI Adoption and Employment Expectations: Evidence from a Survey of Small Business Owners." Liberty Street Economics, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, October 8, 2026. https://doi.org/10.59576/lse.20261008 — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Business Employment Dynamics — Establishment Age and Survival Data. March 2026 release, as summarized by the SBA Office of Advocacy.
Update log: November 11, 2026 — Page created. AI and challenges sections seeded from the 2025 SBCS; California survival section seeded from the BLS March 2026 release.
Last updated: November 11, 2026.
Bright & Bold Digital Marketing, Temple City, California. This page is our own compilation and wording of public federal data. The underlying SBCS report is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 license.