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ENTREPRENEUR & SMALL BUSINESS QUICKFACTS

June 4, 2013

Thanks to the Department of Economic Development for this quickfacts

ENTREPRENEUR & SMALL BUSINESS QUICKFACTS

There are 633,636registered businesses in Georgia (SOS: 6/3/13)
99% categorized as small (fewer than 500 employees) (GDOL 6/12)
95% employ fewer than 50 (GDOL 6/12)
76% employ fewer than 10 (GDOL 6/12)
89% employ 5 and under (AEO / US Census)

Georgia Rankings

GA ranks #9 in US for best states for starting a business; “Entrepreneur Friendly” cited (Entrepreneur.com 5/13)
GA ranks #10 for Small Business Friendliness, gets an “A” for ease of hiring; “B” for training & networking programs (Thumbtack/Kauffman 4/13)
- GA ranks #1 in US for fastest growth in number of women-owned firms (American Express OPEN 4/13)
- GA gets an “A” grade for online government transparency (Sunlight Foundation 3/13)
- GA ranks #8for Best State for Business – up from #11 (Forbes 12/12)
- GA ranks #4 for Best Business Climate (Site Selection 11/12) and #6 for Best Business Climate (Executive Survey 11/12)
- Emory University and Georgia Tech among top 100 in the world (Center for World University Rankings 7/12)
- 17 GA companies rank among the nation’s top-grossing black-owned businesses (Black Enterprise 6/12)
- GA (& Utah) will add more health-care jobs than any other states between 2010-2020 (Georgetown Univ. Center 7/12)
- GA ranks #2 in workforce training leaders(Business Facilities 7/12)
- GA ranks #1 in workforce, #3 in infrastructure & transportation & #9 overall in competitive rankings (CNBC 7/12)
  - GA ranks #20 for best Business Tax Index for Entrepreneurship & Small Business (SBE Council 5/12)
  - GA’s economic outlook ranks 10th among 50 states (American Legislative Exchange Council 4/13)
- GA ranks #2 for states experiencing the largest increases in entrepreneurial activity rates over the past decade; Atlanta/Marietta/Sandy Springs tied at # 2 for entrepreneurial activity by metro area (Kauffman 3/12)
  - GA is one of five states in US for top places to film (P3 12/12)
  - GA ranks #2 in US for highest number of black-owned businesses at 20.4% (US Census 2/11)

Miscellaneous

Atlanta earned an “A” for best American city in which to start a business (NerdWallet Inc. 4/13)
Atlanta in Top 100 world cities for an innovation economy in 2012-13
Atlanta is a top U.S. markets for life science companies (Jones Lang LaSalle 1/13)
Atlanta ranks 10^th most ‘high-tech’ major metro market in US (JLL 11/12)
Atlanta is Top City in US for performance of its biggest public companies in the stock market (CNBC 11/12)
Atlanta small businesses hiring up w/monthly expanded payrolls since summer of 2011(SurePayroll 10/12)
Atlanta ranks #7 for most women-owned businesses (American Express OPEN 10/12)
Atlanta ranks #4 for most favorable tax structure for businesses among US cities w/2 million+ population (KPMG 10/12)
Atlanta ranks #7 among 20 happiest cities for young professions (Forbes 10/12)
Atlanta ranks 8^th with having the most small businesses (125,966) in US (On Numbers 7/12)
Atlanta is easiest city to recruit executives according to 50 US search consultants (Heidrick & Struggles 7/12)
Atlanta grew to #10 among 30 richest US cities w/GDP at $250 billion in 2010 (The Atlantic Cities magazine 7/12)
Atlanta is 15^th fastest growing US city at 3% growth in population from 4/10 – 7/11; 432,427 residents (US Census 6/12)
Atlanta is #21 best city in US for business and careers (Forbes 6/12)
Atlanta 1 of 8 cities pegged for 8% job growth (US: 7%) through 2017 citing demographic trends & industry growth (Kiplinger 6/12)
Atlanta is #5 for Small Business Friendliness, gets an “A+” for Networking Programs (Thumbtack/Kauffman 5/12)
Atlanta is 7^th fastest growing metro in US adding 72,909 residents between 7/10 and 7/11 (On Numbers 5/12)
Atlanta ranks #2 in job growth (AZ State Univ 3/12)
Atlanta #1 in percentage of black-owned businesses; #4 Overall (The State of Urban Business 2011)