The US Census Bureau recorded 534,947 business applications in September 2026 and projects 29,022 businesses with payroll from them within 4 quarters, which counts new filings rather than existing firms. Elsewhere, the UK had 5.64 million small businesses at the start of 2025, Australia 2,814,778 actively trading businesses at 30 June 2026, and Canada 1.08 million small employer businesses in December 2024.
"Small business" means four different things in these four official datasets, and that's the thing to know before you quote any of them. The UK count includes 4.27 million operators with no employees. Canada's leaves out every business with no paid employees. Australia counts actively trading businesses. The US monthly figure counts applications, and only about 1 in 18 is projected to become a business with payroll.
The most quotable result is British. Between 2024 and 2025, non-employing businesses rose by 201,000 while employing businesses fell by 9,000. So "the number of small businesses is rising" and "fewer businesses are hiring" are both true at once.
United States: applications, not companies
The two figures below are from the Census Bureau's Business Formation Statistics, September 2026 release, seasonally adjusted.
| Measure | September 2026 | Change on August | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business applications | 534,947 | +0.5% | US Census Bureau |
| Projected business formations within 4 quarters | 29,022 | +1.4% | US Census Bureau |
Read those carefully. An application is someone filing the paperwork. It isn't a trading company, and plenty of them will never hire anyone. The second line is narrower: businesses with payroll tax liability. And it's a projection Census makes from that month's group of applications, not a count of firms that have formed.
Divide one by the other and you get about 5.4% (29,022 divided by 534,947), or about 1 in 18. Don't call 534,947 "new small businesses". Don't use either figure as the number of small businesses in America, because neither one counts businesses already operating. Census also revises these figures, and its annual update is dated 12 Nov 2026, so give the release month when you cite them.
United Kingdom: mostly one-person operators
From the Department for Business and Trade's Business Population Estimates 2025, showing the start of 2025. The department labels the series "official statistics in development", and unregistered business numbers are estimates.
- 5.69 million (5,690,265) private sector businesses: 5.64 million small (0 to 49 employees), 38,435 medium, 8,335 large.
- Up 191,000 (3.5%) on 2024. The peak was about 6.0 million at the start of 2020.
- 4.27 million (75%) have no employees. 1.4 million (25%) employ people.
- Since 2010, non-employing businesses grew 31% (1.014 million) and made up 84% of total growth.
- Over the same stretch, companies rose 833,000 (66%), sole proprietorships rose 462,000 (17%) and ordinary partnerships fell 88,000 (19%).
- SMEs employ 16.9 million people, 60% of private sector employment. Small businesses have 13.1 million employees.
- Non-employers turned over £402.6 billion.
Australia: who's trading right now
The Australian Bureau of Statistics' Counts of Australian Businesses gives the position at 30 June 2026. There are 2,814,778 actively trading businesses, of which 996,203 employ people. It counts businesses of every size, so it isn't a small business total by itself, and I wouldn't present it as one.
| Year | Net change in businesses |
|---|---|
| 2022-23 | 50,149 |
| 2023-24 | 73,125 |
| 2024-25 | 66,650 |
| 2025-26 | 85,130 |
That 2025-26 rise is 3.1%, made up of 460,461 entries (a 16.9% entry rate) and 375,331 exits (a 13.8% exit rate). Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing was the only industry to fall, down 0.5% to 170,185 businesses.
The churn is the useful part. A net gain of 85,130 hides far bigger movement in both directions.
Canada: employers only
The ISED Key Small Business Statistics 2025 has data to December 2024 and covers employer businesses only, so nobody working alone without paid staff is in it.
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- 1.10 million employer businesses: 1.08 million (98.2%) small (1 to 99 employees), 16,953 (1.5%) medium and 3,380 (0.3%) large.
- Small businesses employ 5.8 million people, 46.6% of the private labour force in 2024. Medium firms account for 17.0% and large 36.4%.
- Total private sector employment went from 12,521.8 thousand to 12,528.7 thousand between 2023 and 2024, up 0.1%.
- On average, 28.5% of small businesses created in the goods-producing sector survived at least 21 years, against 23.0% in services.
- From 2017 to 2021, an average of 18,480 goods and 62,550 services small businesses were created each year, with 16,880 and 57,629 exits.
ISED warns that its counts from 2023 onward aren't comparable with earlier editions, so don't draw a long trend line through old reports.
Four countries side by side
| US | UK | Australia | Canada | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What it counts | Monthly applications, seasonally adjusted | Private sector businesses, including no employees | Actively trading businesses | Employer businesses only |
| Headline figure | 534,947 (Sept 2026) | 5.64 million small (start of 2025) | 2,814,778 (30 June 2026) | 1.08 million small (Dec 2024) |
Why adding these up would mislead
Don't compare these numbers and don't total them. The UK's size band starts at zero employees and stops at 49. Canada's starts at 1 and stops at 99. Australia's headline covers all sizes. The US figure isn't a stock of businesses at all. The UK having about five times Canada's count says more about who gets counted than about either economy.
The dates differ as well, running from December 2024 to September 2026. Even within a single country, keep the definition next to the figure, because "businesses" and "businesses that employ people" can move in opposite directions, as the UK's did.
Planning around new tools? Start with AI adoption among small businesses, then the wider AI statistics for small business owners.
Before you cite these
How many small businesses are there in the US?
The Census Bureau's monthly Business Formation Statistics don't answer that. They count new applications, 534,947 in September 2026, and projected formations, 29,022, not the businesses that already exist.
What share of UK businesses have no employees?
75%. That's 4.27 million of the 5.69 million private sector businesses at the start of 2025, in the Department for Business and Trade's estimates.
What counts as a small business?
It varies by publisher. The UK figures here use 0 to 49 employees, and Canada's use 1 to 99 and leave out businesses with no paid employees.
How long do small businesses survive?
The figure here is Canadian. ISED says that on average 28.5% of small businesses created in the goods-producing sector survived at least 21 years, against 23.0% in services.
If you sell to small businesses, start here
I'd plan around the UK split first, because it changes who you're writing for. Three in four British businesses have nobody on the payroll, so a message about managing staff misses most of them. For an employer audience, Canada's 46.6% is the stronger number, since it shows how much of the private workforce these firms carry. For the US, use the Census figures to talk about new business activity, say they're applications, and stop there. That's the honest use of them, and it's still a big number: 534,947 in a single month.
