Scaling to $1 Million: How Small Businesses Fare by Owner Race and Gender

This figure has two panels stacked vertically, each of which is a vertical grouped bar chart. The title reads “Incidence of $1 million firms by initial revenues.” In the top panel, subtitled “Owner race,” firms are grouped by initial year revenue and owner race. Initial year revenues are bucketed into five groups: less than $100,000; $100,000-$249,999; $250,000-$499,999; $500,000-$749,999; and $750,000-$999,999. Bars represent the share of firms in the given initial revenue bucket and owner race that attain $1 million in revenues. Across all races, firms with lower initial revenues are less likely to attain $1 million in revenues, but within initial revenue buckets, Black-owned firms are consistently less likely to attain $1 million in revenue than Asian-, Hispanic-, and White-owned firms. Among firms with initial revenues less than $100,000, 2 percent of Asian-owned firms, 0.3 percent of Black-owned firms, 0.7 percent of Hispanic-owned firms, and 1.3 percent of White-owned firms attain $1 million in revenue. Among firms with initial revenues between $750,000 and $999,999, 51 percent of Asian-owned firms, 42 percent of Black-owned firms, 55 percent of Hispanic-owned firms, and 53 percent of White-owned firms reach $1 million in revenue. In the bottom panel, subtitled “Owner gender,” firms are grouped by initial year revenue and owner gender. Initial year revenues are bucketed into five groups: less than $100,000; $100,000-$249,999; $250,000-$499,999; $500,000-$749,999; and $750,000-$999,999. Bars represent the share of firms in the given initial revenue bucket and owner gender that attain $1 million in revenues. Across both genders, firms with lower initial revenues are less likely to attain $1 million in revenues, but within initial revenue buckets, female-owned firms had consistently lower shares of reaching $1 million. Among firms with initial revenues less than $100,000, 0.6 percent of female-owned firms and 1.4 percent of male-owned firms attain $1 million in revenues. Among firms with initial revenues between $100,000 and $249,999, 2.8 percent of female-owned firms and 4.4 percent of male owned firms reach $1 million in revenue. Among firms with initial revenues between $250,000 and $499,999, 10 percent of female-owned firms and 13 percent of male-owned firms reach $1 million in revenue. Among firms with initial revenues between $500,000 and $749,999, 28 percent of female-owned firms and 31 percent of male-owned firms reach $1 million in revenue. Among firms with initial revenues between $750,000 and $999,999, 52 percent of both female-owned and male-owned firms reach $1 million in revenue. The chart note reads, “Firms with unknown race or gender or no classifiable majority ownership by race or gender are not shown in their respective charts. Source: JPMorgan Chase Institute.”