Business Buyer School Research · Industry Atlas · Data
Industry Atlas dataset
Small Business Acquisition Industry Atlas dataset · Version atlas-2026.2 · Published October 6, 2026. 152 rows, one per four digit NAICS 2017 industry, 44 fields. Blank cells are values the source does not have; none are estimated.
Downloads
- business-buyer-school-industry-atlas-2026.csv sha256 853527374a0c0c1f6f4a179e2cea2a3d2aa078f58cb733fcb705687d29f98b79
- business-buyer-school-industry-atlas-2026.json sha256 a05810173a787e3dc3576ef4fab6578bb572d91abd90303facff0208f67a36ce
- business-buyer-school-industry-atlas-2026-state-establishments.csv sha256 8db2954b2d0eda58f21dc13791f406d751371522ea3a4fd6bcdd14be052e6108
- business-buyer-school-industry-atlas-2026-state-establishments.json sha256 2fdb2e5b20be62babd2a533b72f1c48deb6b4a7c9c8fbe2343f8b6f4309dfd99
- version-manifest.json sha256 99567836e6f8cd9862e35d0119397c62363becb2337a60f68b3bd0be01a327ab
- SHA256SUMS.txt
The version manifest lists every source file with its SHA256 and row count, the join rules and the build script hash. A later edition gets a new folder; these files do not change.
Fields
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
naics | Four digit NAICS 2017 code (the key of the supply, recession and durability studies). |
industry_name | Official NAICS 2017 industry title. |
buyer_school_label | Plain-language name used by Report 4 (blank where Report 4 has none). |
parent_sector | NAICS sector. |
source_confidence | Confidence tier shared by Reports 1, 2 and 4 (High or Medium for all 152). |
confidence_basis | Size rule behind that tier. |
acquisition_supply_rank | Report 4 rank of 152 (1 = highest Acquisition Supply Index). |
acquisition_supply_score | Report 4 Acquisition Supply Index, model A (0 to 100). |
acquisition_supply_quartile | 1 = ranks 1 to 38, 4 = ranks 115 to 152. |
firms_5_99 | Report 4: firms with 5 to 99 employees, SUSB 2022. |
small_firms_per_10000_employees | Report 4: firms under 20 employees per 10,000 employees (Buyable Business Density). |
employees_per_firm | Report 4: employment divided by firms, SUSB 2022. |
recession_resistance_rank | Report 1 rank of 152 (1 = held up best). |
recession_resistance_score | Report 1 Recession Resistance Score, model A (0 to 100). |
recession_resistance_quartile | 1 = ranks 1 to 38, 4 = ranks 115 to 152. |
great_recession_employment_drawdown_pct | Report 1: min(0, trough / 2007 - 1) in percent, BDS March employment. Pack field great_recession_employment_change. |
covid_employment_drawdown_pct | Report 1: min(0, trough / 2019 average - 1) in percent, QCEW monthly. Pack field covid_employment_change. |
durability_rank | Report 2 rank of 152 (1 = most durable). |
durability_score | Report 2 Durability Score, model A (0 to 100). |
durability_quartile | 1 = ranks 1 to 38, 4 = ranks 115 to 152. |
avg_establishment_exit_rate_2014_2023_pct | Report 2: average annual establishment exit rate 2014 to 2023. An exit is not a failure. |
firm_shutdown_rate_2014_2023_pct | Report 2: average annual firm shutdown rate 2014 to 2023. |
owner_65_plus_pct | Report 3 share of incorporated self-employed people aged 65 or older in the ACS group(s) containing the industry, as attached by Report 4. People, not firms. Blank = not mappable. |
owner_age_basis | Report 4: exact ACS group / pooled ACS group (shared with other industries) / not mappable. |
owner_acs_groups | ACS industry group codes behind the owner age value. |
owner_age_confidence | Weakest Report 3 tier among those ACS groups (High, Medium, Low; Not rated = a group outside the Report 3 universe). |
owner_age_report3_tiers | Each ACS group with its Report 3 tier. |
owner_age_sample_records | Unweighted ACS PUMS records behind the owner age value (Report 4 derived file). |
ai_join_status | ranked / matched, not ranked / not joined, with the reason in ai_note. |
ai_exposure_rank | AI Exposure Study rank of 81 (1 = most exposed). Blank unless the study ranked the industry. |
ai_exposure_score | AI Exposure Score, index points 0 to 100. A Business Buyer School modeled estimate, not a share of jobs, tasks or revenue. |
ai_exposure_quartile | Quartile of the 81 ranks: 1 = ranks 1 to 20, 4 = ranks 61 to 81. |
ai_method_sensitive_flag | AI study flag: rank changes materially across exposure measures. |
ai_operating_leverage_metric | AI Opportunity Study operating leverage score (modeled estimate). |
ai_leverage_rank | AI Opportunity Study leverage rank of 81. |
ai_quadrant | AI Opportunity Study quadrant (a classification, not a finding). |
ai_quadrant_agreement_of_8 | Alternative specifications (of 8) that give the same quadrant. |
ai_quadrant_stable | True when the quadrant holds in at least 6 of 8. |
ai_note | Why AI values are blank, when they are. |
grouping_note | Where the official code groups several businesses, or the owner age group is shared with other industries. |
supply_flags | Report 4 data quality flags. |
buyer_lenses | Buyer lens IDs this row meets (rules on the page and in the methodology). |
source_versions | Package and calculation version of each joined study. |
atlas_version | Atlas version. |
State establishment fields
7,752 rows, one per industry and state (152 industries times 50 states and DC). Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2022. These count establishments, not firms; the industry file above counts firms in firms_5_99. The two are never combined.
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
naics | Four digit NAICS 2017 code (same key as the Atlas). |
industry_name | Official NAICS 2017 industry title. |
state_fips | Two digit state FIPS code. |
state_usps | Postal abbreviation. |
state_name | State name (50 states and the District of Columbia). |
establishments_5_99 | County Business Patterns 2022: establishments with 5 to 99 employees in mid March 2022 (sum of the 5 to 9, 10 to 19, 20 to 49 and 50 to 99 size classes). Establishments, not firms. Blank when Census flags a size class or publishes no row. |
establishments_5_99_flag | Blank when the value is published. N = Census flag N (not available or not comparable) on at least one size class; no row = Census published no row for this state and industry. |
flagged_size_classes | The size classes Census flagged N, when the flag is N. |
share_of_national_establishments_5_99_pct | establishments_5_99 divided by the national County Business Patterns 2022 count for the industry, in percent. Blank when the state value is blank. |
establishments_5_99_per_100000_residents | establishments_5_99 per 100,000 residents, using the Census Vintage 2023 population estimate for July 1, 2022. Blank when the state value is blank. |
national_establishments_5_99 | County Business Patterns 2022 U.S. file: establishments with 5 to 99 employees for the industry. |
state_population_2022 | Census Vintage 2023 estimate, POPESTIMATE2022 (July 1, 2022). |
source | Source line. |
atlas_version | Atlas version. |
Versions
| Version | Date | Change |
|---|---|---|
| atlas-2026.1 | 2026-10-06 | First edition. |
| atlas-2026.2 | this edition | Adds establishments with 5 to 99 employees by state from County Business Patterns 2022 for all 152 industries: a state view page, state CSV and JSON, and a state filter in the buy-box matcher. Industry values of atlas-2026.1 are unchanged. |
Earlier editions:
- atlas-2026.1 (First edition): files unchanged at their original address.
Pack field names great_recession_employment_change, covid_employment_change, avg_establishment_exit_rate and firm_shutdown_rate are published under names that state the measure and period. There is no combined score field.
Suggested citation
Cite as: Business Buyer School, Small Business Acquisition Industry Atlas (dataset), https://businessbuyerschool.com/research/small-business-industry-atlas/data/. Version atlas-2026.2. Published October 6, 2026.
Reusing this research
You may reuse reasonable excerpts, individual charts, individual tables, selected findings and quotations for media coverage, with credit to Business Buyer School, the name of the study, and a link to the report or dataset page where practical, as long as the meaning is not materially changed.
Separate written permission is needed to republish a dataset wholesale, redistribute it in bulk, resell it, republish substantially the entire report, remove methodology or source notes from a reproduced table, present the analysis as your own original research, or alter a chart or table in a way that changes its conclusion.
The underlying government source data remains subject to its own terms. This policy covers only Business Buyer School's own analysis.
Permission requests, corrections and methodology questions: dave@businessbuyerschool.com.
Take this into your search
The Atlas narrows the industries to look at. These parts of the school turn that into a search and a first screen of a real business.
- Write your Buy Box: set the type of business, size and hard exclusions before you search.
- Write the buy box before you search: what you will buy and what you will refuse, before a listing pulls you in.
- Initial screen: a first pass on a specific listing.
- Owner dependence: what leaves with the seller: what lives in the seller's head or name, and what to require so it does not leave.
- See the curriculum or start free with Business Buyer School.