Americans are starting businesses at a record pace, and Richmonders are getting in on the entrepreneurial hot streak.
Why it matters: Small businesses employ about half of the American private-sector workforce, and they’ve created half of all new jobs nationwide over the last half-decade.
Driving the news: The Richmond region added more than 1,000 net new businesses between 2021 and 2023, per the latest stats from InUnison, the region’s local business association.
- That mirrors the national trend, where Americans are starting new businesses at near-record rates — averaging 470,000 monthly applications in 2025 — about 66% above pre-pandemic norms, Axios’ Courtenay Brown reports.
- And this year, those applications are running even higher, with the smallest companies — those with fewer than 20 employees — accounting for a whopping 95% of the economy’s net job gains in the first four months of 2026, per payroll processor ADP.
Fun fact: Businesses with fewer than 20 workers account for 83%of all businesses in Greater Richmond, per InUnison…