Demographics of Business Owners
A better understanding of construction firm owner demographics allows us to better track the industry and associated economic growth, as well as how to reach owners with prevention efforts. In addition, understanding owners may provide information that could be used to improve recruitment and retention of construction workers as the need for construction workers grows. For example, it has been found that minority-owned firms are more likely to hire minorities.
This interactive dashboard highlights data trends for demographics, such as sex, race, ethnicity, and veteran status, of both employer (payroll) and nonemployer (without payroll) construction firms, as well as additional demographics (age, education status, birthplace status, and citizenship status) of employer firms. The Year and/or Employer Type filter(s) update the charts and the bolded and underlined key finding.
Following the interactive dashboard, you will find more information on the data source, definitions, chart notes, a downloadable data file, and recommended citation. This interactive data dashboard corresponds to information presented in the 7th Edition Construction Chart Book PDF version. Data will be updated annually as available. If you have questions or comments, please email [email protected].
About the Data
U.S. Census Bureau. (2026). Annual Business Survey: Owner Characteristics of Respondent Employer Firms by Sector, Sex, Ethnicity, Race, and Veteran Status for the U.S., States and Metro Area. https://data.census.gov/.
- The Annual Business Survey uses the collection year when referenced by the U.S. Census Bureau. For example, 2022 Annual Business Survey data covers 2021 data. Years shown on this page are for the reference year, not data collection year.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2026). Annual Business Survey: Receipts Size of Firm Statistics for Employer Firms by Industry, Sex, Ethnicity, Race, and Veteran Status for the U.S., States, and Metro Areas. https://data.census.gov/.
- The Annual Business Survey uses the collection year when referenced by the U.S. Census Bureau. For example, 2022 Annual Business Survey data covers 2021 data. Years shown on this page are for the reference year, not data collection year.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2026). Nonemployer Statistics by Demographics series (NES-D): Receipts Size of Firm Statistics for Employer and Nonemployer Firms by Industry, Sex, Ethnicity, Race, and Veteran Status for the U.S., States, Metro Areas, and Counties. https://data.census.gov/. The only exception is 2017 data was published in a different format, see:
- U.S. Census Bureau. Nonemployer Statistics by Demographics Table 1 Statistics for Nonemployer Firms by Industry, Sex, Ethnicity, Race, and Veteran Status for the U.S., States, and Metro Areas: 2017. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/abs/data/2017/nesd_estimates_2017_Table1.xlsx.
Definitions and Chart Notes
Definitions
- Educational attainment – highest level of education received prior to establishing, purchasing, or acquiring the business.
- Employer firms – include all firms that reported a payroll during the reference year.
- Equally-owned – firms in which ownership is equally split (50/50) for the demographic.
- Nonemployer firms – includes firms with no paid employees, no annual business receipts of $1 or more (specific to construction), and subject to federal income taxes.
Chart Notes
- In the data file, all charts except the map contain an average of all years and single year data. If interested in single year data for the map, please contact us at [email protected].
Recommended Citation and Data File
Data File
CPWR-The Center for Construction Research and Training. [2026]. Demographics of Business Owners [dashboard].
Recommended Citation
The Data File contains an average of all years included and annual data. If interested in additional year combinations, please contact us at: [email protected].