Authors: Robert Fairlie, Sameeksha Desai, and A.J. Herrmann

Special thanks: Kim Wallace Carlson, Kim Farley, Alyse Freilich, Lacey Graverson, Victor Hwang, Larry Jacob, Keith Mays, Jeffrey Pollack

Suggested citation: Fairlie, Robert, Sameeksha Desai, and A.J. Herrmann. (2019) 2017 National Report on Early-Stage Entrepreneurship in the United States, Kauffman Indicators of Entrepreneurship, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation: Kansas City.

This is a report published by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation utilizing content and data from multiple sources and external contributors. Every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of the information contained in this report, and it is believed to be correct as of the publication date. Nonetheless, this material is for informational purposes, and you are solely responsible for validating the applicability and accuracy of the information in any use you make of it.

This report represents national trends in early-stage entrepreneurship for the years 1996-2017 in the United States, as well as trends for specific demographic groups when possible.

• The rate of new entrepreneurs in 2017 was 0.33 percent, which reflects that 330 out of every 100,000 adults became new entrepreneurs in an average month.
• The opportunity share of new entrepreneurs, representing the percentage of new entrepreneurs who created businesses out of opportunity instead of necessity, was 84.4 percent in 2017. This figure is down slightly from 2016, when it was 86.3 percent, but it is more than 10 percentage points higher than it was in 2009 (73.8 percent), at the depths of the Great Recession.
• Startup early job creation focuses on early-stage job creation by startups per capita. This indicator was 5.27 jobs per 1,000 people in 2017, reflecting an increase from 5.23 jobs per 1,000 people in 2016, but a longer-term decline from 6.23 in 2007.
• The startup early survival rate captures the one-year survival rate of new employer business establishments. It was 79.78 percent in 2017, representing a small increase from 79.58 percent in 2016 and 77.88 percent in 2007.