FROM THE ARCHIVE
Census Bureau reports on Native-owned firms
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MAY 23, 2001 Businesses owned by American Indians and Alaska Natives generated $34.3 billion in revenues in 1997, according to a Census Bureau survey released on Tuesday. With 298,700 employees, the nation's 197,300 Indian-owned businesses are situated primarily in four states: California, Texas, Oklahoma, and Florida. These four states alone accounted for 34 percent of all firms owned by Native Americans. Oklahoma also made the top list of states with the highest percentage of Native-owned businesses. Alaska, naturally, came in first with 10.6 percent of all firms in the state owned by Natives, followed by Oklahoma (5.4 percent), and then New Mexico (5.2 percent). The report released by the Census Bureau highlights the entrepreneurial spirit among Indian business owners. About 88 percent of the firms were owned by one person, At the same time, these businesses are just one part of the growing economic power of Indian Country. Tribally-owned enterprises, which can come in the form of casinos, web sites, or entire cities, were excluded from the Census' survey. Purchasing power of American Indians and Alaska Natives has also increased, according to a University of Georgia analysis of Census data. Indian Country's buying power is $34.8 billion in 2001, up from $19.2 billion in 1990. But Native Americans still trail other minority groups in terms of business ownership and other economic indicators. There were 913,000 Asian-owned businesses that generated $306.9 billion in revenues in 1997, according to a Census report also released yesterday. Previous Census reports on firms owned by women, Hispanics, and African-Americans also show how Indian Country lags. The 5.4 million women-owned businesses generated $818.7 billion in receipts, followed by Hispanics (1.2 million busineses with $186.3 billion in revenues) and African-Americans (823,500 businesses; $71.2 billion). Since the 1997 survey included data collected on "C" corporations, the results aren't immediately comparable to the Census' 1992 report. But the Census Bureau said the number of Native-owned firms, excluding the "C" corporations," increased 84 percent from 1992 to 1997. This increase was the highest rate of all minority groups. In comparison, Asian-owned firms grew by 30 percent, Hispanic by 30 percent, and African-American by 26 percent. There was only a 7 percent increase for all US companies as a whole. In total, there were 20.8 million non-farm firms in 1997. American Indian and Alaska Native-owned businesses accounted for 0.9 percent of the total and generated 0.2 percent of all receipts. The average Indian business took in $174,100 in receipts, compared to $410,600 for all US firms. The states with the largest number of Native firms, in order, were: California, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, North Carolina, New Mexico, Alaska, New York, Michigan and Arizona. With the exception of Michigan, these states are also the ones with the largest number of American Indians and Alaska Natives. The states with the largest percentage of Native firms, in order, were: Alaska, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Montana, Arizona, South Dakota, North Dakota, North Carolina, Alabama, and Alabama. Get the Report:
American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned businesses (Census Bureau May 22, 2001) Relevant Links:
The Census bureau - http://www.census.gov Related Stories:
Census reports on uninsured Natives (10/02)
Census: Native Americans among poorest (9/27)
Report: Native buying power increases (9/8)
Native purchasing power by state (9/8)
Native population on the rise (8/31)
Census data by state (8/31)
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