North Carolina: A Million Small Businesses
North Carolina's Commerce Department talks about the state's one million small businesses when it describes startup and small business support, and the federal data shows the scale behind the phrase. The Census Bureau's 2023 County Business Patterns counts 258,169 employer establishments statewide, 94.5% with fewer than 50 employees, including 28,390 construction establishments and 28,189 in professional services. Those are statewide counts of business locations, kept separate from the metro figures below.
- North Carolina Department of Commerce: Small business topics (NC Commerce) (current page; retrieved 2026-10-08)
- U.S. Census Bureau: 2023 County Business Patterns: State file (cbp23st) (2023 CBP; retrieved 2026-10-05)