Business Buyer School Research · Industry Atlas · States

Where the Small Establishments Are: 152 Industries by State

Small Business Acquisition Industry Atlas, state view · Version atlas-2026.2 · Published October 6, 2026. Establishments with 5 to 99 employees in each state for all 152 Atlas industries.

By David Wright, Founder, Business Buyer School · Published October 6, 2026 · Last updated October 6, 2026 · Version atlas-2026.2 · What this does not prove

Establishments, not firms. County Business Patterns counts establishments: each physical location with paid employees. The Atlas supply study counts firms, and one firm can own several establishments. This page reports establishments only and never adds the two together.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2022 (state and U.S. files, NAICS 2017 codes, employment size class in mid March 2022). Population: U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2023 state population estimates, July 1, 2022.

Key facts

• For 152 industries and 51 states (with DC), 4,972 of 7,752 state cells have a published count of establishments with 5 to 99 employees.
• 2,698 cells are blank because Census flags at least one size class N (not available or not comparable), and 82 because Census published no row. None are estimated or set to zero.
• For the 6 industries with no blank state, the state counts add up exactly to the national County Business Patterns count.
• These are establishments, not firms: the Atlas supply rank counts firms (Census SUSB), and the two establishment and firm counts are never added together.

Industry data is context. It cannot establish that a particular business is good, fairly priced, financeable or transferable.

One industry, every state

Home builders (residential building construction) (NAICS 2361)

43,398 establishments with 5 to 99 employees nationally. 45 of 51 states have a published value; 6 are blank in the Census file and not ranked (a blank state could hold more than a ranked one).

Top states for all 152 industries

Each industry, in Atlas supply rank order, with the national count and the three states with the most establishments with 5 to 99 employees among the states that have a published value. A blank state is not ranked and could hold more than a listed one; the last column counts them. Select an industry to see every state.

How to read the state view

• Count: the sum of four County Business Patterns size classes: 5 to 9, 10 to 19, 20 to 49 and 50 to 99 employees, for the all legal forms row of the exact four digit NAICS 2017 code.
• Share of national: the state count divided by the U.S. count from the County Business Patterns U.S. file. Shares of the published states add up to less than 100% when some states are blank.
• Per 100,000 residents: the state count per 100,000 people, using the Census Vintage 2023 population estimate for July 1, 2022. It describes how common these establishments are relative to population, not demand or competition.
• Blank: Census marks a size class N (not available or not comparable), or publishes no row for the state and industry. The page shows the flag and leaves the cell blank. A blank is not a zero.
• Same codes as the Atlas: County Business Patterns 2022 uses NAICS 2017 codes, the same vintage as the supply study (SUSB 2022), so every Atlas code joins exactly.

What this does not show

• Firms, owners or businesses for sale: an establishment is a location, and a firm with ten establishments counts ten times here.
• The Atlas supply rank by state: the supply study counts firms nationally, not establishments by state, and no state supply rank is computed.
• Counties or metro areas. County data is not in this edition.
• Anything about a particular business, its price or its earnings.

Data download

• State CSV, 7,752 rows
• State JSON
• SHA256 checksums
• Version manifest

Field definitions are on the dataset page; rules and QA counts are in the methodology.

Suggested citation

Cite as: Business Buyer School, Small Business Acquisition Industry Atlas (state view), https://businessbuyerschool.com/research/small-business-industry-atlas/states/. Version atlas-2026.2. Published October 6, 2026.

Reusing this research

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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.

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Permission requests, corrections and methodology questions: dave@businessbuyerschool.com.

Take this into your search

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