Small business and mobile statistics for 2026, with sources
Every figure on this page comes from a named public source, links to it, and shows the date we checked it.
Most statistics pages about small business websites repeat numbers that nobody can trace. This page does the opposite. It collects a small set of figures from two public sources, the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy and Pew Research Center, and links each one to the document it came from.
We use these figures to explain why we build the way we do: for small, local businesses, and for customers who will most likely find them on a phone. Where a source does not say something, we do not say it either. If a figure on this page goes out of date, we update it or remove it rather than guess.
The figures
36.2 million
small businesses in the United States
Based on Census Bureau data for 2022. Small business means fewer than 500 employees.
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy: 2026 Small Business Profile, United States
Published September 2026 · Checked October 31, 2026
99.9%
of U.S. businesses are small businesses
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy: 2026 Small Business Profile, United States
Published September 2026 · Checked October 31, 2026
45.9%
of U.S. employees work for a small business
That is 62.3 million small business employees.
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy: 2026 Small Business Profile, United States
Published September 2026 · Checked October 31, 2026
1.2 million
small businesses in Pennsylvania, making up 99.6% of the state's businesses
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy: 2026 Small Business Profile, Pennsylvania
Published September 2026 · Checked October 31, 2026
1.1 million
small businesses in New Jersey, making up 99.7% of the state's businesses
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy: 2026 Small Business Profile, New Jersey
Published September 2026 · Checked October 31, 2026
91%
of U.S. adults own a smartphone
Survey of 5,511 U.S. adults conducted Jan. 30 to June 18, 2026.
Source: Pew Research Center: Americans' Use of Mobile Devices in 2026
Published October 19, 2026 · Checked October 31, 2026
16%
of U.S. adults are smartphone-only internet users, with a smartphone but no home broadband
Source: Pew Research Center: Americans' Use of Mobile Devices in 2026
Published October 19, 2026 · Checked October 31, 2026
What these figures mean for a small business website
Small businesses are not a niche. By the SBA's count they are nearly every business in the country and in both states we know best, and they employ close to half of all U.S. employees. That also means a local plumber, salon, or accountant is competing with a lot of other small businesses for the same nearby customers, and a clear, fast website is one of the few places they can stand apart.
Pew's figures show that owning a smartphone is close to universal among American adults, and that a meaningful share of people rely on a phone as their only way online at home. For some of your customers, the phone is the whole internet. A site that is awkward on a small screen is not a minor flaw for them; it is the only version of your business they will see.
- Design for the phone first, then check the desktop layout.
- Put the call to action and the service area where a thumb can reach them.
- Keep pages light so they load on a weak mobile signal.
What these figures do not tell you
None of these sources measure how many small businesses have a website, how many customers search on a phone before hiring a local service, or how much a website adds to revenue. You will see confident numbers for all of those elsewhere. We have not found a public, current, well-documented source for them, so we do not quote them.
The SBA counts include businesses with no employees, such as sole proprietors, alongside employers. The Pew figures describe all U.S. adults, not only people shopping for local services. Both are useful context, not a forecast for any one business.
How we choose and check figures
We only quote figures from primary public sources: government statistical agencies and established nonpartisan research organizations. Each figure links to the exact document it comes from, and shows the date that document was published and the date we last checked it.
We quote figures as the source states them, without rounding them further or combining figures from different sources into a new number. When a source publishes a newer edition, we replace the old figure and update the checked date. A figure without a source link does not appear on this page; our build check rejects it.
Sources
- U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy: 2026 Small Business Profile, United StatesPublished September 2026
- U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy: 2026 Small Business Profile, PennsylvaniaPublished September 2026
- U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy: 2026 Small Business Profile, New JerseyPublished September 2026
- Pew Research Center: Americans' Use of Mobile Devices in 2026Published October 19, 2026
Questions we get asked
How does the SBA define a small business here?
In these profiles, the SBA Office of Advocacy generally defines a small business as a firm with fewer than 500 employees across all its locations. That includes businesses with no employees at all.
Can I quote these figures?
Yes. Please cite the original source linked next to each figure rather than this page, since the source is where the number comes from.
Why don't you list more statistics?
Because most of the website statistics that circulate online cannot be traced to a current, documented source. We would rather show a short list you can check than a long list you cannot.
