By Jeff DeBellis for the North Department of Commerce

North Carolina’s business landscape is undergoing a dramatic demographic shift, with the number of Black and Hispanic business owners surging in recent years according to new data from the US Census Bureau’s Annual Business Survey.

Recent Growth in Minority-Owned Businesses

Between 2017 and 2022, the number of Black-owned and Hispanic-owned businesses in the state skyrocketed by nearly 65%. In comparison, the growth in White-owned businesses was a more modest 5% over the same period.

Minority businesses owners are still under-represented in North Carolina relative to their overall population, with White-owned businesses comprising vast majority of the state’s businesses (86.7% in 2022). However, change is happening – especially since the pandemic. In 2017, Black entrepreneurs made up just 3.7% of the state’s business owners. By 2022, that had risen to 5.7%. The share of Hispanic businesses also grew from 3.1% to 4.7%. Asian-owned businesses also experienced strong growth, increasing by 25% since 2017. However, their share of the entrepreneurial population didn’t rise as much, increasing 0.9 points over that period from 6.0% to 6.9%.

The data paints a picture of an increasingly diverse business community in North Carolina, with Black and Hispanic owners leading the charge. This shift is poised to have major economic and social implications for the state in the years to come.

As minority-owned businesses continue to growth and thrive, they are likely to play an ever-larger role in job creation, innovation, and community development across North Carolina. Policymakers and business leaders will need to ensure that these entrepreneurs have access to the resources and support they need to sustain this impressive growth trajectory.

Related: NC’s Decade of Progress in Poverty Reduction

The preceding article originally appeared on February 13, 2025 at the North Carolina Department of Commerce’s website and is made available here for educational purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 106A-117 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Any views or opinions expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Carolina Leadership Coalition.