Richmond ranks in Top 10 for Black-owned businesses nationwide

For the third consecutive year, Richmond has secured a spot among the top 10 cities in the U.S. with the highest percentage of Black-owned businesses, according to a new analysis by LendingTree. The report found that 7.6% of businesses in Richmond are Black-owned, an increase from 5.6% in last year’s findings.

Richmond is home to more than 1,800 Black-owned businesses and has the 22nd highest Black population rate in the country. The city ranks ahead of St. Louis (7.3%) and Charlotte (7.1%) in terms of Black business ownership.

LendingTree’s study highlights a growing trend in Black entrepreneurship. Nationally, the percentage of Black-owned businesses has increased by 22.2% year over year. In 2022, 3.3% of businesses in the U.S. were Black-owned, compared to 2.7% in 2021 and 2.4% in both 2020 and 2019.

Additional key findings from the report include:

• 39.1% of Black-owned businesses are run by women, significantly higher than the 22.3% of women-owned businesses overall.
• A quarter (25.6%) of Black-owned businesses operate in the health care and social assistance sector, followed by professional, scientific, and technical services (13.6%) and transportation and warehousing (9.2%).
• Many Black-owned businesses run by women are relatively young, with 30.9% having been open for less than two years. However, more than half (55.2%) report annual sales between $100,000 and $999,999, and 12.8% generate over $1 million in revenue.