GoDaddy Venture Forward Report Summer 2023 | U.S. Edition | Snapshot of the State of Microbusinesses

As originally published by GoDaddy’s Venture Forward research initiative

Snapshot of the State of Microbusinesses

A deep dive into the latest numbers and trends of online microbusinesses, their outsized impact, and hotspots of growth by city.

Venture Forward quantifies the presence and impact of over 21 million online microbusinesses on their local economies, providing a unique view into the attitudes, demographics, and needs of the entrepreneurs who create and operate them.

GoDaddy knows that to truly advocate and empower entrepreneurs, you first have to really understand them. So in 2018, we began studying closely and analyzing millions of microbusinesses, defined as an entity with a discrete domain name with an active website, and the majority of whom have fewer than 10 employees. We measured their effect on incomes and unemployment, together with renowned academics at the University of Iowa and University of Arizona, and established they had an outsized impact on these and other economic health indicators.

In 2019, we began surveying the entrepreneurs who own these ventures, nationally and across cities, at least once a year. These surveys help us better understand their mindsets and circumstances.

In 2020, we built a proprietary Microbusiness Activity Index with economists at UCLA Anderson Forecast and created a data hub to update and share our data publicly so those advocating for and studying entrepreneurs could access more information, including measurements of microbusiness density by geography, down to the ZIP code. We update this data on a quarterly basis.

In 2021, we expanded our research to the United Kingdom, and are working now to broaden our coverage elsewhere around the world.

For more details on our research methodology and other findings, please read About us on the Venture Forward website or see our answer to Frequently Asked Questions.

“Tiny Digital Businesses Play Key Role in Local Economies” 
— New York Times April 2020, covering Venture Forward

U.S. Microbusiness Concentration

Microbusinesses Have Major Impact

• $489: Each additional microbusiness per 100 people in a county increases household median income by almost $500/year. 
   
• ~7: About seven new jobs are created by each microbusiness entrepreneur on a county-level.

Recent Snapshot: Microbusiness Density by City (Q2 2023)

1. Small Cities (Micropolitans with pop. < 250k)

• Microbusinesses per 100 people (Q2 2023): 4.2
• % All Cities: 79%

2. Midsized Cities (Metropolitans with pop. 250k - 2m)

• Microbusinesses per 100 people (Q2 2023): 6.3
• % All Cities: 17%

3. Large Cities (Metropolitans with pop. 2m+)

• Microbusinesses per 100 people (Q2 2023): 10.2
• % All Cities: 4%

Three-Year Growth: Change in Microbusiness Density by (Q2 2020 – Q2 2023) County

1. Rural (< 100 ppl./square mile)

• Change in Microbusinesses Density (Q2 2020 - Q2 2023): +14%
• % All Counties: 60%

2. Suburban (100 - 500 ppl./square mile)

• Change in Microbusinesses Density (Q2 2020 - Q2 2023): +6%
• % All Counties: 28%

3. Urban (>500 ppl./square mile)

• Change in Microbusinesses Density (Q2 2020 - Q2 2023): +6%
• % All Counties: 12%

Which U.S. Cities Rank Highest in Microbusinesses? 
Cities* Ranked by Microbusiness Counts and Concentration June 2023

Top 10 Cities (by Count) 
Microbusiness Count

1. New York, NY: 469,294
2. Las Vegas, NV: 323,390
3. Miami, FL: 319,595
4. Los Angeles, CA: 297,083
5. Chicago, IL: 289,701
6. Houston, TX: 239,359
7. Brooklyn, NY: 201,388
8. San Diego, CA: 195,264
9. Austin, TX: 191,029
10. Fort Lauderdale, FL: 163,085 

Top 10 Cities (by Density) 
Density Count

1. Scottsdale, AZ: 38
2. Irvine, CA: 38 
   Tulsa, OK: 37
3. New York, NY: 35
4. Las Vegas, NV: 27
5. Fort Lauderdale, FL: 25
6. Pittsburgh, PA: 25
7. Miami, FL: 22
8. Austin, TX: 22
9. Irving, TX: 20
   *Cities with populations over 250K

GoDaddy Venture Forward Report | Summer 2023 | U.S. Edition

This report is powered by the latest data from Venture Forward, a GoDaddy research initiative to quantify the presence and impact of over 21 million online microbusinesses on their local economies, while shining a light on the entrepreneurs behind them. Our goal is to empower anyone who advocates for entrepreneurs with robust data and insights that can’t be found elsewhere.