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Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index
The Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index is a rigorous monthly measure of jobs growth at small businesses in the US, Canada, and the UK, developed with Professor Ufuk Akcigit, the Arnold C. Harberger Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago. Updated just days after each month ends, it shows immediate reactions to economic trends before other statistics are available.
From the interactive charts below, get monthly employment growth rates (percentages) and levels (number of jobs) by country, region, and sector. In the US, state-level data is available for 20 states. All data is seasonally adjusted.
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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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 in-depth analyses of recent trends in the Small Business Index to add context around the numbers and consider how small businesses compare to the rest of the economy.
Annual Report
Every fall, we publish an annual report to look at what's been driving trends in the Small Business Index over the past 12 months. The report looks for answers in our Small Business Insights survey and the latest official government data. Download your free copy below.
About the Small Business Index
Published at the beginning of every month, the Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index is a reliable monthly indicator of the health of small businesses 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 the number of jobs at:
- US small businesses with 1 to 9 employees: at the national, regional, and sector levels; and for 20 states.
- Canada's small businesses with 1 to 19 employees: at the national, regional, and sector levels.
- UK 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 sample is almost 424,000 small businesses.
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 timelag of up to nine months. With the Small Business Index, the timelag 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
1 in 10 US jobs are provided by small businesses with fewer than 10 employees
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