Black-owned businesses have seen strong growth in recent years. Nearly 195,000 employer businesses were owned by Black Americans in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent Annual Business Survey, released in 2024. That’s a 45% growth compared with Census Bureau data from three years prior.

Despite this progress, majority-Black-owned businesses represented just 3% of all U.S. companies in 2022.

“The proverbial pie would certainly grow if we continued to invest in these underappreciated companies,” Andre M. Perry, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and author of “Black Power Scorecard,” told NerdWallet in an email.

Securing funding is a critical part of launching, sustaining and growing any businesses, but Black entrepreneurs often face unique challenges in accessi

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