In 2007, American Indians and Alaska Natives owned 236,967 nonfarm U.S. businesses operating in the fifty states and the District of Columbia, an increase of 17.7 percent from 2002. These American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms accounted for 0.9 percent of all nonfarm businesses in the United States, employed 184,416 persons (0.2 percent of total employment) and generated $34.4 billion in receipts (0.1 percent of all receipts).

These findings come from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2007 Survey of Business Owners (SBO) and were collected as part of the 2007 Economic Census. The SBO includes a sample of more than 2.3 million nonfarm businesses filing 2007 tax forms as individual proprietorships, partnerships, or any type of corporation, and with receipts of $1,000 or more. The SBO defines American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned businesses as firms in which American Indians and Alaska Natives own 51 percent or more of the equity, interest or stock of the business. The information in these tabulations does not include tribally owned businesses or Alaska Native Regional or Village Corporations and their subsidiaries, which are government-owned entities. These data provide the only source of population-wide, regularly collected information on businesses owned privately by individual American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Table 6 shows the number of firms and value of receipts for American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned businesses in 2007 and the changes from 2002 to 2007.

Employment size and receipts size data for American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms are shown in Chart 3 and Chart 2.

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In 2007, 30.5 percent of American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms operated in the construction (NAICS 23) and repair, maintenance, personal, and laundry services (NAICS 81) sectors. American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms accounted for 1.1 percent of all U.S. businesses in these industries. Construction (NAICS 23) and retail trade (NAICS 44-45) accounted for 40.4 percent of American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned business revenue. Table 5 and Chart 1 show the distribution of American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms by sector.

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California had the largest number of American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms at 45,629 (19.3 percent of all American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms), with receipts of $4.6 billion (13.5 percent of all American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firm receipts). Oklahoma and Texas were next with 21,194 (8.9 percent) and 19,057 (8.0 percent) American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms respectively, with receipts of $4.5 billion (13.1 percent) and $3.7 billion (10.7 percent) respectively. Table 1 and Map 1 show, for each state, the number of American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms as a percentage of the total number of firms in that state in 2007. Table 6 and Map 2 show, for each state, the change in the number of American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms from 2002 to 2007.

Among U.S. counties, Los Angeles County, California, had the largest number of American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms in 2007 at 14,195. Table 2 shows, for the 50 most populous counties, the number of American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms as a percentage of the total number of firms in each respective county in 2007.

The two cities with the largest number of American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms in 2007 were New York City, with 8,749 and Los Angeles, with 6,276. Table 3 shows, for the 50 most populous cities, the number of American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms as a percentage of the total number of firms in each respective city in 2007.

Statistics for American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms in the 50 most populous metropolitan statistical areas in 2007 can be found in Table 4.

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The SBO collects data from both employer and nonemployer businesses. Employer businesses are firms with paid employees, including workers on the payroll and excluding sole proprietors and partners. Nonemployer businesses are firms without paid employees, including sole proprietors and partners of unincorporated businesses that do not have any other employees on the payroll.

In 2007, there were 23,704 American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned employer firms, a decrease of 3.2 percent from 2002. These firms employed 184,416 persons, a decrease of 3.6 percent from 2002, and had a total payroll of $5.9 billion, an increase of 15.4 percent from 2002. In 2007, these firms generated $27.5 billion in receipts, an increase of 25.1 percent from 2002. In 2007, employer firms accounted for 10.0 percent of the total number of American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms and 80.0 percent of American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms’ gross receipts. Average receipts for these American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned employer firms in 2007 were $1.2 million.

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In 2007, 213,263 American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms had no paid employees, an increase of 20.6 percent from 2002. These nonemployer firms generated $6.9 billion in receipts, an increase of 40.7 percent from 2002. In 2007, nonemployers accounted for 90.0 percent of the total number of American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms and 20.0 percent of gross receipts. Average receipts for these American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned nonemployer firms in 2007 were $32,227.

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The 2007 and 2002 SBO data were published according to the 2007 and 2002 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) respectively. Prior to the 2002 SBO, data were published according to the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. Additional changes affecting data comparability are discussed in detail in Methodology, in the section titled "Comparability of the 2007 and 2002 SBO Data."

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