Black-Owned Ohio Businesses Grew Payroll 82%, New Census Analysis Finds

Black-owned businesses in Ohio are hiring more workers, paying higher wages, and taking a bigger share of the state's economy. A new analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data by the Health Policy Institute of Ohio found that the state's more than 5,600 Black-owned businesses employed over 64,000 workers in 2023, and that their combined annual payroll grew from $1.3 billion in 2017 to $2 billion in 2023, an 82 percent increase.

"The data on the economic impact of Black-owned businesses in Ohio demonstrates that the state's diversity is one of its greatest strengths," the institute said, in comments reported by Cincinnati CityBeat, "and that the success of the Black community leads to success for the state overall."

Cincinnati leads, but the gains are uneven

The momentum is not spread evenly across Ohio. Drawing on data from the Brookings Institution, the analysis tracked how the number of Black-owned employer businesses changed in each metro area between 2017 and 2023.

Cincinnati stood out, with a 125 percent jump in Black-owned employer businesses over the six years, and Black entrepreneurs there now own 3.5 percent of all employer businesses in the region. Dayton and Youngstown, by contrast, lost ground over the same period. The recent picture is more cautious still: when researchers narrowed the window to 2022 through 2023, Cincinnati was the only major Ohio metro to post year-over-year growth, rising 18 percent, while Toledo, Akron, Dayton, and Youngstown all slipped.

A national story, and a persistent gap

Ohio's numbers track a broader national trend. According to the Brookings Institution's Black Business Parity Dashboard, which is built on the Census Bureau's Annual Business Survey, the number of Black-owned employer businesses across the country surpassed 200,000 in 2023, up 62 percent since 2017. Together those firms generated $249 billion in revenue, supported more than 1.8 million jobs, and paid nearly $70 billion in salaries.

The growth has not closed the gap it started from. Black Americans make up 14.4 percent of the U.S. population but own just 3.4 percent of the country's employer businesses. Brookings estimates that if Black business ownership reached parity with the Black share of the population, the country would gain about 757,000 new businesses, 6.3 million jobs, and $824 billion in revenue circulating through local economies.

Why the trend may not hold

The researchers who compiled the data were careful not to treat the progress as guaranteed. Brookings warned that recent scrutiny of federal diversity programs threatens continued gains, pointing to the elimination of the Minority Business Development Agency and changes to U.S. Small Business Administration contracting programs. And the structural obstacles are older than any one policy.

"With numerous structural barriers to growth, such as credit access, intergenerational wealth gaps, and outsized levels of debt, Black-owned businesses will not magically grow without inclusive and intentional policy and investments," researchers Andre Perry and Hannah Stephens wrote. "As underrepresented race and ethnic groups own more employer businesses, their share of ownership moves closer to their share of the population. This growth is a tool to combat centuries of racial disparities in ownership and wealth."

The business figures sit alongside a demographic shift CensusEasy has tracked elsewhere, in our look at where the Black middle class is growing. You can also explore the population and income profile of Ohio and its metros, or compare any two places with the compare tool.

Sources

Reporting is from Yahoo Finance, drawing on the Health Policy Institute of Ohio's analysis (via Cincinnati CityBeat). The national figures are from the Brookings Institution's Black Business Parity Dashboard by Andre Perry and Hannah Stephens, which is built on the U.S. Census Bureau's Annual Business Survey.