Nevada small business growth tops nation, census says

Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2004 | 11:18 a.m.

From 2001 to 2002 Nevada led the nation in its growth of small businesses with one or more owners but no paid employees, according to a new census report.

The Census Department said Tuesday that the number of Nevada small businesses increased 7.4 percent to 128,073 firms in 2002 from 119,228 in 2001. The Silver State beat Georgia, which posted a 6.3 percent increase and had the strongest growth in 2001.

Nationally, these businesses represent about 70 percent of all businesses and they range from home-based firms to corner stores and construction contractors, the census report said.

Landscaping firms posted the most significant growth nationally from 2001 to 2002, increasing 21.5 percent. Janitorial services businesses increased 20.4 percent, followed by nail salons and real estate agents, which increased 8.7 percent and 7.1 percent respectively.

The nonemployer firms generated U.S. receipts of $770 billion, which is a 5.5 percent increase from 2001 to 2002. In Nevada, receipts increased 17.9 percent for nonemployer firms to $7.17 billion from 2001 to 2002.

The census data was based on 15.4 million individual proprietorships, more than 1.1 million corporations and 1.1 million partnerships.