Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index

Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index

Small Business Index: Monthly revenue and jobs reports

Revenue Index | Employment Index

The Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index is a rigorous monthly measure of small business revenue, employment, and job vacancies developed with Professor Ufuk Akcigit, the Arnold C. Harberger Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago. The Small Business Index is updated just days after each month ends—showing immediate reactions to economic trends before other statistics are available. All data is seasonally adjusted.

Revenue Index

Use the interactive charts below to see average real monthly revenue, and the monthly changes, per US small business with 1 to 9 employees. This data is available nationally, regionally, by sector, and for 20 states. The revenue data is deflated to 2017 dollars to remove the impact of inflation. It's also seasonally adjusted. Sample: 300,000 US small businesses.

Employment Index

Use the interactive charts below to see how many people are employed at US small businesses with 1-9 employees, at small businesses in Canada with 1-19 employees, and at small businesses in the UK with 1-9 employees. All data is seasonally adjusted and available at the national, regional, and sector level. In the US, state-level data is currently available for 20 states. In the UK, monthly job vacancy data is available alongside jobs data. Total worldwide sample: 557,000 small businesses.

Use the dropdown filter below to get the latest estimates or explore trends back to 2015.

Select country / region / sector:

Regional employment trends

Use the dropdown filter below to see which regions of the US, Canada, or UK created or lost the most jobs at small businesses last month, and in previous months. All data is seasonally adjusted.

Select country / month:

Employment trends by sector

Find out which sectors created the most small business jobs last month or explore historic trends. As always, these insights are available for the US, Canada, and the UK. All data is seasonally adjusted.

Select country / month:

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We'll send you the latest insights from the Small Business Index as soon as they are published each month.

Latest monthly posts

Get the latest US insights from the Small Business Index from the posts below. This data is also available from the interactive charts above.

Latest quarterly trends

Every January, April, July, and October, we publish more detailed studies of recent trends in the Small Business Index. These analyses add context to the numbers and look at how small businesses compare to the rest of the economy.

Annual Report

The annual report explores what's been driving trends in the Small Business Index over the past 12 months. Answers come from our Small Business Insights survey and the latest official government data.

Download your free copy below.

About the Small Business Index

The Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index is a reliable monthly measure of the health of the small business economies in the US, Canada, and UK. It uses administrative data from QuickBooks customers, official government statistics for benchmarking, and a rigorous methodology developed by leading economists.

The Small Business Index provides up-to-date, monthly estimates of:

  • US: Revenue and employment at small businesses with 1 to 9 employees at the national, regional, and sector levels; and for 20 states.
  • Canada: Employment at small businesses with 1 to 19 employees at the national, regional, and sector levels.
  • UK: Employment and job vacancies at small businesses with 1 to 9 employees at the national, regional, and sector levels.

How it works

The Small Business Index is a collaboration between Intuit QuickBooks and an international team of economists led by Professor Ufuk Akcigit, the Arnold C. Harberger Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago. It uses administrative data from anonymized QuickBooks Payroll records, not survey data, in combination with official statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Statistics Canada, and the UK’s Office for National Statistics. This ensures the Index reflects the general population of small businesses in each country, not the performance of QuickBooks customers or Intuit’s business. The total worldwide sample is 557,000 small businesses.

  • US: 444,000 small businesses using QuickBooks Payroll (employment index); 300,000 small businesses using both QuickBooks Payroll and QuickBooks Online (revenue index).
  • Canada: 87,000 small businesses using QuickBooks Payroll (employment index).
  • UK: 26,000 small businesses using QuickBooks Payroll (employment index).

Read more about the sample and data sources in the Small Business Index methodology.

Why it's needed

The primary benefits of the Small Business Index are its frequency, reliability, and unparalleled focus on small businesses. The Index shows how small businesses are reacting to the economy before other statistics are available. For example, in the US, official statistics on small business employment have a time lag of up to nine months. With the Small Business Index, the time lag is cut to just a few days.

Small businesses are vital to the health of the economy but often underrepresented in economic data. By shining a brighter light on small businesses, we want to boost their growth and remove barriers to success. This matters. Did you know, 1 in 10 US jobs are provided by small businesses with fewer than 10 employees?

Get the answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the Small Business Index.

Professor Akcigit explains why we need the Small Business Index

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1 in 10 US jobs are provided by small businesses with fewer than 10 employees
2023 Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index Annual Report

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