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DATA SOURCES & REFERENCES

Every number on the homepage — the live counter, the demographic donuts, the survival curve, the startup-cost estimator — comes from one of the public datasets below. Where multiple sources agreed, we used the most recent. Where they didn't, we noted the range.

Live counter rate & new applications by year

U.S. Census Bureau — Business Formation Statistics (BFS), 2010–2024 application series.

census.gov/econ/bfs

Owner demographics — gender, race & ethnicity, veteran status

U.S. Census Bureau — Annual Business Survey (ABS), latest available year (2022 reference).

census.gov/programs-surveys/abs.html

Mom-owned business estimates

National Association of Women Business Owners; American Express State of Women-Owned Businesses reports (2019, 2022). Estimates of mother-owned share among women-owned firms are interpolated from these surveys.

nawbo.org

Industry distribution & employee size

U.S. Census Bureau — Statistics of U.S. Businesses (SUSB) and Nonemployer Statistics; cross-referenced with the SBA Small Business Profile.

census.gov/programs-surveys/susb.html

Survival rate calculator

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Business Employment Dynamics (BED), establishment survival rates by year of birth (long-running series, all industries).

bls.gov/bdm

Startup cost & first-year operating estimates

Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation — Indicators of Entrepreneurship (median startup capital by industry), supplemented by SBA loan-application averages and industry trade-group surveys (NRA, NRF, AGC).

indicators.kauffman.org

Numbers age. If you spot a stale figure or a cleaner public source, let us know and we'll update.