Approximately 2.4 million businesses will be asked to provide information about their characterstics and the characteristics of their owners. Estimates from the survey will be available beginning in mid-2010. See our data release schedule for details.
If you received a 2007 SBO-1 form in the mail, please complete it and return it to us using the postage-paid envelope. If you have questions related to the SBO-1 form you received, please contact us.
Overview: The Survey of Business Owners and Self-Employed Persons provides the only comprehensive, regularly collected source of information on selected economic and demographic characteristics for businesses and business owners by gender, ethnicity, and race. Title 13 of the United States Code authorizes this survey and provides for mandatory responses.
Coverage: The SBO collects data on a company or firm basis and includes all nonfarm businesses filing 2007 Internal Revenue Service tax forms as individual proprietorships, partnerships, or any type of corporation, with receipts of $1,000 or more.
Content: The survey collects data on the gender, ethnicity, and race for up to four persons owning the majority of rights, equity, or interest in the business. Additional demographic and economic characteristics of the business owners and their businesses will be collected such as: owner's age, education level, veteran status, and primary function in the business; family- and home-based businesses; types of customers and workers; and sources of financing for expansion, capital improvements, or start-up.
Frequency: The SBO, which is part of the Economic Census, has been conducted every 5 years since 1972, for years ending in "2" and "7." Data collection begins in June following the census year and continues through September of the next year. Reported data are for the census calendar year.
Methods: The 2007 SBO-1 questionnaire will be sent to a random sample of businesses selected from a list of all firms operating during 2007 with receipts of $1,000 or more.
Data Products: The 2007 SBO results will be released on a flow basis beginning in mid-2010 and will be available on the Census Bureau's Web site at www.census.gov/econ/sbo and through American FactFinder (AFF), the Census Bureau's online, self-service data access tool.
The SBO data products provide statistics for businesses owned by American Indians and Alaska Natives; Asians; Blacks or African Americans; Hispanics; Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders; and Women.
The SBO data products also include the following summaries: Company Summary; Characteristics of Businesses; Characteristics of Business Owners; Characteristics of Veteran-Owned Businesses; and Characteristics of Veteran Business Owners.
How Data Are Used: Government program officials, industry organization leaders, economic and social analysts, and business entrepreneurs routinely use the SBO statistics. Examples of data use include those by: