Small businesses have been the building blocks of the United States’ incredibly strong economy for a number of years. Most of them start with a dream, a lifelong ambition of an aspiring entrepreneur who is doing something they are passionate about, which then becomes a small business.
New Hampshire, despite being a rather small state in both size and population certainly has a lot going for it in a business and economic sense. The state is consistently finding itself amoung the United States’ elite for small businesses and economic strength, topping national rankings for health, education, low crime rates, and high life quality. NH is also an incredible place for business due to its close proximity to consumer markets such as Boston, and even the nation of Canada, which is incredibly well suited for U.S. and international expansion.
The Granite State has always been a consistent contributor to the United States’ constantly growing and evolving economy. Over the past several years, in particular, New Hampshire has really started to become an incredibly pro-business state, which has resulted in a business climate many states and even countries would love to have.
Due to a plethora of business incentive and development programs, supportive local communities, manageable taxes, and access to giant consumer markets, it is no wonder the state has such a perfect small business climate.
Number of Small Businesses in New Hampshire
So, how many small businesses are there in New Hampshire? There are 130,939 small businesses in New Hampshire, according to the latest figures (2020) from the SBA.
It is not just Americans and people from New Hampshire starting small businesses in the state; New Hampshire, although not being a huge attraction for international entrepreneurs and foreign-born people, there are still some immigrant entrepreneurs that have decided to call the state their home for business.
There are 5,979 immigrant entrepreneurs in New Hampshire that account for 8% of all self-employed New Hampshire residents.
The following bar graph shows the number of small businesses in New Hampshire in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.
Of the 136,535 small businesses in New Hampshire in 2020, there is a wide array of different enterprises from small, one-person sole proprietorships or LLCs to much larger businesses with several hundred employees. If you want to join the 136,000-plus small businesses in New Hampshire, it is fairly easy to register a business in New Hampshire.
To be a small business in New Hampshire, you have to qualify as one. So, to operate as a small business in New Hampshire, you must have a company with less than 500 employees.
Let’s take a deeper dive into the number of small businesses in New Hampshire by looking at the top industries, small business owners, employees, and more!
Latest Small Businesses Statistics in New Hampshire
- Small businesses equate to over 99% of all businesses in New Hampshire.
- There are 300,628 small business employees in New Hampshire, which is 49.8% of the states’ employees.
- In 2019, Small Businesses in New Hampshire added 7,216 new jobs!
- Small businesses employing 20-99 employees created the most job gains!
- There are 4,793 self-employed minorities in New Hampshire demonstrating the diversity in the state.
- International trade in New Hampshire is quite strong and there are 2,239 small business exporters.
- There are more professional, scientific, and technical service firm small businesses in New Hampshire than any other type – 20,793.
- Construction firms make up the 2nd largest number of small businesses in New Hampshire – 20,183.
How Many Small Businesses in New Hampshire?
Over 136,535 is a lot of small businesses to be registered in a state with such a small population size (42nd most populous). Compared to the rest of the U.S., the total number of small businesses in New Hampshire is 0.43% of all U.S. businesses. There are 31.7 million small businesses in the U.S.
- The number of small businesses in New Hampshire has been growing over the last several years.
- In 2017 there were 132,432 small businesses, which increased to 133,676 in 2018 (0.93% increase).
- In 2019 there were 134,760 small businesses which were 1,084 more than the state had in 2018 (0.81% increase).
- From 2019 to 2020, the number of small businesses in New Hampshire rose once again, to 136,535. This is the largest increase in percentage terms over the past five years (1.31%) and demonstrates New Hampshire’s strong and continually growing economy.
New Hampshire has much to offer both small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs from all over the world, which has all been made possible because of the state’s ever-present small business support in the way of small business development centers, investment programs, readily available capital, and a pro-business collaborative environment tailed for businesses in any industry!
If you would like to download the latest 2020 Small Business Profile on New Hampshire from the U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, the Profile can be downloaded here.
