January 12, 2024
In March 2023, 34.7 percent of U.S. private-sector business establishments born in March 2013 were still in operation. In other words, one-third of businesses created in March of 2013 survived for a decade.
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Note: These data are for March of each year. 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Note: These data are for March of each year. 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Note: These data are for March of each year.
Year Age of establishment, in years Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting Utilities Manufacturing Real estate and rental and leasing Retail trade Construction Other services (except public administration) 0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 1 87.5 80.7 82.6 83.9 84.2 76.0 82.5 2 81.0 72.7 73.9 75.9 75.7 68.1 74.2 3 75.7 65.8 67.4 69.4 68.8 62.8 67.1 4 70.7 62.9 63.0 64.1 63.3 58.2 61.9 5 66.2 56.6 57.7 58.7 58.3 53.9 56.9 6 62.5 53.1 53.4 54.4 54.1 50.6 52.5 7 59.1 50.7 49.7 50.4 49.8 46.7 47.2 8 57.2 47.5 47.1 48.0 46.8 44.6 44.3 9 53.2 47.5 45.5 45.5 44.1 42.4 42.3 10 50.5 45.7 43.6 42.2 41.7 40.1 39.6
Year Educational services Accommodation and food services Finance and insurance Health care and social assistance Arts, entertainment, and recreation Total private sector Administrative and waste services 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 81.8 82.5 80.9 82.7 80.6 79.6 76.9 72.9 72.5 71.7 73.6 71.3 68.9 67.4 65.9 65.6 64.2 66.0 63.8 61.4 60.1 60.9 60.3 58.2 58.3 57.9 55.3 53.9 56.0 55.3 53.2 55.1 52.9 50.6 48.9 52.0 51.2 49.4 51.2 49.0 46.7 44.7 47.1 46.6 45.6 48.0 44.3 42.8 41.2 43.1 42.9 43.4 44.1 39.0 39.9 38.3 41.5 41.1 40.5 41.2 37.6 37.6 36.4 38.9 38.2 37.5 35.7 35.4 34.7 34.2
Year Transportation and warehousing Management of companies and enterprises Professional, scientific, and technical services Wholesale trade Information Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 79.4 81.4 77.0 78.2 74.9 79.4 69.6 70.5 66.0 67.1 63.5 65.9 61.4 62.1 57.8 58.3 55.7 50.6 55.1 55.7 51.6 52.0 49.5 44.3 50.1 50.3 46.3 46.5 44.3 40.2 46.3 46.1 42.0 41.9 40.1 36.6 41.9 41.1 38.0 37.5 36.8 33.1 39.1 38.8 35.7 34.4 33.7 28.2 36.9 35.3 33.3 32.1 31.5 26.3 34.0 33.0 30.9 30.1 29.1 24.5
The agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting industry had the highest survival rate (50.5 percent still in business in 2023), followed by utilities (45.7 percent) and manufacturing (43.6 percent). The lowest survival rate was in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction (24.5 percent). Other industries with low 10-year survival rates were information (29.1 percent) and wholesale trade (32.1 percent).
Overall, the survival rate for private-sector establishments born in March 2013 dropped most in first year of operation, as the rate fell by 20.4 percentage points from 2013 to 2014. This pattern held for all large industry groups, with the sharpest decline occurring in construction (−24.0 percentage points). Survival rates generally continued to decrease every year, typically declining less steeply as time passed.
Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction experienced a large drop in its survival rate (−15.3 percentage points) between 2015 and 2016. After this steep decline, the survival rate in this industry continued to trend below those of the other sectors.
These data are from Business Employment Dynamics program. To learn more about establishment survival over time, see Establishment Age and Survival Data.
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