From 2002 to 2007, the number of Black-owned businesses increased by 60.5 percent to 1.9 million, more than triple the national rate of 18.0 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's Survey of Business Owners. Over the same period, receipts generated by Black-owned businesses increased 55.1 percent to $137.5 billion.

This is good news and speaks to the interest in entrepreneurship by an increasing number of African Americans. “Black-owned businesses continued to be one of the fastest growing segments of our economy, showing rapid growth in both the number of businesses and total sales during this time period,” said Census Bureau Deputy Director Thomas Mesenbourg.

Of course this data does not show the results of the Great Recession which started in December of 2007 and officially ended in  June 2009. According to Ivonne Cunarro, Chief Knowledge Management Unit, MBDA, the 2007-2011 data won't be available until 2015 since the Survey of Business Owners is conducted every five years as part of the economic census.

These new data come from the Survey of Business Owners: Black-Owned Businesses: 2007. The survey provides detailed information every five years for Black-owned businesses, including the number of firms, sales and receipts, number of paid employees and annual payroll.

Data are presented by geographic area (nation, state, county, city and metro area), industry and size of business. Preliminary national and state data were released in July 2010.

In 2007, nearly four in 10 Black-owned businesses operated in the health care and social assistance; and repair, maintenance, personal and laundry services sectors. The retail trade and health care and social assistance sectors accounted for 27.4 percent of black-owned business revenue.

Among states, New York had 204,032 Black-owned businesses and accounted for 10.6 percent of the nation's Black-owned businesses, followed by Georgia, with 183,874 Black-owned businesses (9.6 percent) and Florida, with 181,437 (9.4 percent).

Among counties, Cook, Ill., had the most Black-owned businesses, with 83,733, accounting for 4.4 percent of all the nation's Black-owned businesses. Los Angeles followed with 59,680 (3.1 percent) and Kings, N.Y., with 52,705 businesses (2.7 percent).

Among cities, New York had the most Black-owned businesses, with 154,929 (8.1 percent of all the nation's Black-owned businesses), followed by Chicago, with 58,631 (3.1 percent), Houston, with 33,062 (1.7 percent) and Detroit, with 32,490 (1.7 percent).

Other highlights:

• Of the 1.9 million Black-owned businesses in 2007, 106,824 had paid employees, an increase of 13.0 percent from 2002. These businesses employed 921,032 people, an increase of 22.2 percent; their payrolls totaled $23.9 billion, an increase of 36.3 percent. Receipts from Black-owned employer businesses totaled $98.9 billion, an increase of 50.2 percent from 2002.
• In 2007, 1.8 million Black-owned businesses had no paid employees, an increase of 64.5 percent from 2002. These nonemployer businesses' receipts totaled $38.6 billion, an increase of 69.0 percent.
• The number of Black-owned businesses with receipts of $1 million or more increased by 35.4 percent to 14,507 between 2002 and 2007.

The Survey of Business Owners defines Black-owned businesses as firms in which Blacks or African-Americans own 51 percent or more of the equity, interest or stock of the business. Additional reports from the survey highlighting other minority- and veteran-owned businesses will be issued over the next year. Subsequently, separate publications will be issued highlighting additional characteristics of all businesses and their owners.