SINCE LAUNCHING VETERANS DAY 2008:
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Veteran Owned Business proudly presents:
Facts about veteran owned businesses

Veteran-owned firms had sales/receipts of $1.220 trillion, 5.793 million employees, and annual payroll of $210 billion. Employer firms were responsible for 92.3 percent of the receipts, Personal and business credit cards were also $1.126 trillion.

Nearly one third of all veteran-owned firms were in two industry groups: construction and professional, scientific, and technical services.

By industry, finance and insurance had the largest share of veteran-owned businesses, at 13.2 percent, followed by transportation and warehousing; mining; construction; professional, scientific, and technical services; and manufacturing.

Veteran Owned Business Facts

By state, California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Georgia had the largest numbers of veteran-owned businesses. Ranked by the veteran-owned percentage of businesses in the state, the top five states were South Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, and Alabama.

Veteran business owners were overwhelmingly male (94.8 percent) and White (89.7 percent); 7.6 percent of veteran-owned firms were owned by African Americans and 4.6 percent by Hispanic Americans.

The owners were predominantly over the age of 55 (75.1 percent), reflecting the ages of veterans overall, and they tended to be better educated than other business owners.

Of the veteran business owners who responded to the survey, 8.3 percent had service-connected disabilities.

By far the largest source of capital for veteran owned business startup or acquisition was personal or family savings: 61.7 percent of respondents reported using this source. Business loans from banks or other commercial lenders were the second most important source at 9.8 percent.

For business expansion or capital improvements, 30 percent used personal or family savings. Personal and business credit cards were also important sources of capital, at 10.9 percent.

Veteran-owned businesses were more likely to be home-based, less likely to be family-owned, and somewhat less likely to be franchises than the business population overall.

Veteran-owned employer businesses were slightly more likely to offer benefits such as health insurance, contributions to retirement plans, profit sharing, and paid leave than businesses overall.

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