The $824 Billion Opportunity: Closing the Black Business Ownership Gap Could Create 6.3 Million Jobs

According to the Brookings Institution’s Center for Community Uplift, the number of Black-owned employer businesses — companies with at least one paid employee — surpassed 200,000 for the first time in 2023. Between 2017 and 2023, the number of those businesses grew by 62%, adding nearly 77,000 firms nationwide.

Those businesses are already making a substantial contribution to the American economy.

In 2023, Black-owned employer firms collectively generated approximately $249 billion in revenue, supported more than 1.8 million jobs and paid approximately $69.8 billion in salaries, according to Brookings’ analysis of U.S. Census Bureau Annual Business Survey data.

But despite that growth, the ownership gap remains enormous.

Black Americans represent approximately 14.4% of the U.S. population, while Black people account for only about 3.4% of employer business owners, according to Brookings’ latest analysis.

That disparity represents more than an issue of representation.

It represents an economic opportunity.

What Happens if Black Business Ownership Reaches Parity?

Brookings created its Black Business Parity Dashboard to estimate what could happen if the percentage of Black-owned employer firms more closely matched the Black population in communities across the country.

Its earlier national analysis estimated that reaching population parity could result in approximately 757,000 additional Black-owned employer businesses, producing an estimated 6.3 million additional jobs and approximately $824 billion in additional annual revenue circulating through local economies.

Those numbers change the conversation around Black-owned businesses.

The economic issue is no longer simply whether consumers should “buy Black.”

The larger question is whether Black entrepreneurs are gaining access to enough capital, customers, contracts and infrastructure to move from self-employment into businesses capable of hiring workers and operating at scale.

Employer businesses are particularly important because their economic impact extends beyond the individual owner. Brookings notes that when businesses become employers, they create jobs, expand the availability of goods and services and circulate capital throughout communities and regional economies.

Atlanta Leads the Nation in Long-Term Growth

The Atlanta metropolitan area has emerged as one of the most important centers of Black business growth in the country.

From 2017 through 2023, Atlanta gained approximately 6,000 Black-owned employer businesses, more than any other metropolitan area analyzed by Brookings. Miami gained roughly 4,700 during the same period, followed by New York, Washington and Los Angeles.

Atlanta’s performance strengthens its long-standing reputation as a center of Black entrepreneurship, corporate leadership and business development.

However, the latest data also demonstrate that progress is not guaranteed.

Brookings reported that although Atlanta led the country over the six-year period, the metro area lost more than 600 Black-owned employer businesses between 2022 and 2023, showing that long-term growth can exist alongside short-term setbacks.

That makes the challenge larger than simply creating businesses.

It is also about keeping them alive, helping them grow and giving them access to markets large enough to sustain employees.

The South Could Be an Economic Powerhouse

The potential is particularly significant throughout the South, where many metropolitan areas have large Black populations but still have relatively low shares of Black-owned employer firms.

Brookings estimates that if Black employer ownership throughout the Southern metro areas in its analysis reached population parity, it could generate more than 2 million additional jobs, approximately $70 billion in additional payroll and more than $263 billion in additional revenue.

For cities across Georgia and the broader Southeast, that means Black business development could become a major regional economic-development strategy rather than simply a racial or cultural initiative.

The economic impact would extend to employees, suppliers, commercial landlords, financial institutions, contractors and local governments.

Black Women Driving Significant Growth

Black women have been one of the strongest contributors to the recent increase in employer businesses.

Brookings found that the number of Black female-owned employer businesses increased from fewer than 45,000 in 2017 to approximately 79,000 in 2023, an increase of roughly 78%.

That growth exceeded the 62% overall increase among Black-owned employer businesses during the same period.

The numbers suggest Black women are increasingly moving beyond sole proprietorships and into businesses with employees, although their overall share of employer businesses remains comparatively small.

Growth Is Not Equal Across Every Industry

Black-owned employer businesses are also unevenly represented across different sectors of the economy.

Brookings found some of the lowest Black ownership shares in areas such as machinery manufacturing, mining support, fabricated metal manufacturing and textile manufacturing.

That matters because some of those industries involve significant equipment, property, contracts, infrastructure and long-term capital.

The future of a stronger Black economy therefore may depend not only on creating more businesses, but on expanding Black ownership into industries where companies have greater opportunities to build assets, employ large workforces and participate in major supply chains.

From Supporting Businesses to Building Employers

For decades, much of the conversation about the Black economy has centered on encouraging Black consumers to spend money with Black-owned companies.

Consumer support remains important.

But the Brookings data suggest that the larger economic transformation will require something more.

Black businesses must be able to become employers.

That means gaining access to financing for equipment and expansion, commercial real estate, government and corporate contracts, technology, skilled workers and professional networks.

Brookings has identified structural barriers involving access to business credit and limited access to wealth and social networks as factors restricting the ability of Black entrepreneurs to reach their full potential.

A business that employs one person beyond the owner has already crossed an important economic threshold.

A business employing 10, 50, 100 or 1,000 people becomes something else entirely.

It becomes an institution.

An $824 Billion Question

The estimated $824 billion business opportunity raises a much larger question for the Black economy.

What would happen if Black business policy focused not merely on launching businesses, but on deliberately building companies capable of reaching scale?

The answer could potentially mean millions of additional jobs, billions of dollars in wages and dramatically more economic activity in communities where Black entrepreneurship remains underrepresented.

The recent growth demonstrates that progress is possible.

Black-owned employer businesses have increased substantially since 2017, and cities such as Atlanta have shown that significant expansion can occur.

But the distance between 3.4% ownership and 14.4% population representation shows how much economic territory remains unexplored.

For the Black economy, that gap may be one of the biggest business opportunities in America.

The next phase of Black Wall Street may therefore depend less on how many Black-owned businesses exist and more on how many of those businesses can hire, expand, acquire assets, win contracts and become lasting economic institutions.

Black Wall Street Economy will continue tracking Black business ownership, access to capital, employer growth and the industries where Black entrepreneurs are gaining or losing economic ground.