What percentage of millionaires own a small business? A data-driven explainer

What the question means: definitions and context

The phrase “millionaire” and the term “small business” are used in different ways by wealth reports, surveys, and business statistics, and those differences change headline percentages. Most global wealth reports and industry analyses treat a high-net-worth individual or millionaire as someone with at least US$1 million in investable or net assets, which sets a common baseline for comparisons and reporting, and helps explain why many summaries use that cutoff in their tables and charts Capgemini World Wealth Report.

In U.S. household data, researchers often distinguish net worth from investable assets, and household surveys like the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances collect microdata on nonfarm business equity rather than a single business-ownership flag; that nuance matters when counting how many millionaires have active small businesses Survey of Consumer Finances.

Separately, U.S. small-business definitions used for GDP and firm statistics are typically based on firm size by employees or receipts, as used by the SBA Office of Advocacy and the Census Bureau’s SUSB program; using those classifications affects whether a business-holder is counted as a small-business-owning millionaire for GDP-related comparisons SBA Office of Advocacy small business GDP update.

How common is small-business ownership among millionaires – headline estimates

Short answer, with caveats: a defensible, evidence-based headline range is roughly 20 to 40 percent globally and roughly 25 to 45 percent for the U.S., depending on definitions and sample choices. This range synthesizes global wealth-report summaries and U.S. microdata showing significant business-equity holdings among top-wealth households Capgemini World Wealth Report. Additional coverage of recent wealth trends is available from media reports CNBC.

Why a range rather than a single number? Different reports count founders, active owners, passive equity holders, and business equity in ways that change the numerator. Some wealth reports focus on entrepreneur origins, which can undercount current owners, while household surveys capture asset holdings but require classification to identify firm size and active status Knight Frank The Wealth Report.

Which parts of that range are higher confidence? The evidence that many U.S. millionaire households hold nonfarm business equity comes from SCF microdata and is relatively high confidence for the U.S. context, while the global mid-20s to mid-30s entrepreneur shares reported in wealth reports are medium confidence because they depend on different definitions and country mixes Survey of Consumer Finances.

Key data sources and what each can (and cannot) tell you

SCF microdata, strengths and limits: the Federal Reserve’s SCF provides household-level data on assets and liabilities including nonfarm business equity, which allows researchers to flag households above chosen wealth cutoffs and to measure holdings of business equity; the dataset is detailed but requires careful sample weighting and attention to timing Survey of Consumer Finances.

Global wealth reports and registries: firms such as Capgemini and Knight Frank publish HNWI summaries that often report entrepreneur or business-owner shares among millionaires; these reports are useful for headline international comparisons but use different HNWI definitions and may aggregate markets with very different entrepreneur shares Capgemini World Wealth Report. Additional perspective on Knight Frank’s annual coverage is available at their wealth report hub Knight Frank Wealth Report hub.

Business statistics for size and GDP: the SBA Office of Advocacy’s small-business GDP analysis and the Census Bureau’s SUSB program supply the firm-size classifications and GDP allocation rules researchers use to decide which business equity counts as small business; these sources are the basis for commonly cited estimates of how much small businesses contribute to national GDP SBA Office of Advocacy small business GDP update.

OECD and cross-country context: OECD overviews of SMEs and entrepreneurship provide comparative context for how entrepreneur shares vary across advanced and emerging markets, which is useful when interpreting wealth-report ranges that pool many countries OECD SME and Entrepreneurship Outlook.

A practical framework to estimate the percentage – step-by-step

Step 1. Choose a millionaire definition and population. For comparability with many wealth reports, use an investable-assets or HNWI cutoff of US$1 million, but for household-balance analyses you may prefer a net-worth threshold; state your choice clearly and justify it with the reporting trade-offs described in wealth-report documentation Capgemini World Wealth Report.

Step 2. Identify business-asset ownership in microdata. Using SCF microdata, flag households that meet your wealth cutoff and then identify those with positive nonfarm business equity; compute the share of the millionaire sample with business equity using the survey weights provided Survey of Consumer Finances.

Step 3. Classify which holdings count as a small business for your purpose. Map firms to SUSB or SBA size bands by employees or receipts where possible; if microdata do not directly identify firm size, use auxiliary firm-level data or reasonable assumptions and sensitivity tests to estimate the share of business equity that belongs to small firms SUSB program page.

Step 4. Present a range and state caveats. Report a primary estimate plus a lower and upper bound that reflect alternative definitions and classification choices, and document all assumptions so readers can reproduce or adjust the calculation Capgemini World Wealth Report.

Short example. If SCF microdata show X percent of households with investable assets above US$1 million hold nonfarm business equity, and SUSB matching suggests Y percent of that business equity is in small firms, estimate the small-business-owner share as X times Y, then present alternative X and Y values to show uncertainty Survey of Consumer Finances.

How to interpret ranges and choose decision criteria

Prefer conservative or inclusive definitions depending on purpose. Use an investable-asset HNWI cutoff to align with global wealth reporting and to facilitate comparisons, and choose net-worth cutoffs when the analysis focuses on household balance sheets rather than investable wealth, and state the choice explicitly Capgemini World Wealth Report.

Adjust for country and sector variation. Expect higher entrepreneur shares in some emerging markets and in sectors such as technology and services, and lower shares in economies where wealth is more concentrated in financial assets or real estate; the OECD overviews help explain these patterns OECD SME and Entrepreneurship Outlook.

Report uncertainty clearly. Presenting a range, labeling assumptions, and listing data limitations gives readers the context needed to interpret where an estimate sits within the suggested 20 to 40 percent global range and the 25 to 45 percent U.S. range Knight Frank The Wealth Report.

Typical errors and pitfalls to avoid when reporting percentages

Do not mix definitions across sources without conversion. Combining a net-worth-based estimate with an investable-asset HNWI share will misstate the percentage unless you convert or clearly document the definitions; this mismatching is a common source of reporting error Survey of Consumer Finances.

Be cautious with dated small-business GDP figures. The SBA estimate often cited for small business contributions to GDP covers a historical period and a specific methodology, so use it as a baseline but note its vintage and methodological assumptions when interpreting implications for current GDP shares SBA Office of Advocacy small business GDP update.

Avoid inferring causality. Observing that many millionaires have had small-business ties does not prove business ownership by itself caused wealth attainment; longitudinal data are required to make causal claims and those are beyond the scope of cross-sectional wealth summaries Capgemini World Wealth Report.

Practical examples and scenarios: U.S. and cross-country illustrations

U.S. example. Using SCF 2022 microdata to flag households above an investable-assets threshold and to count nonfarm business equity gives a relatively high-confidence view that business-asset holdings are concentrated among wealthier households; applying SUSB-based firm-size mappings then produces an estimate of the share of U.S. millionaires with small-business ownership consistent with the middle of the 25 to 45 percent U.S. range Survey of Consumer Finances.

Sector variation matters. Technology and services sectors frequently account for a larger share of entrepreneur millionaires in many markets, while economies with large real-estate or financial-asset concentrations will show lower shares; this sectoral pattern affects how a headline range should be localized Knight Frank The Wealth Report.

Implications for small business GDP and takeaways for readers

Connecting the percentage of millionaires with small-business ownership to the role of small businesses in the economy requires careful mapping from household business equity to firm-level GDP shares; the SBA and SUSB statistics are the standard references for that mapping and show that small firms contribute a substantial portion of U.S. GDP, often summarized around two-fifths of total GDP in common SBA presentations SBA Office of Advocacy small business GDP update.

Takeaways for readers. A reasonable working estimate for planning or reporting is to present a primary percentage with a clear lower and upper bound, note the millionaire definition and firm-size criteria used, and avoid causal language when discussing wealth origins; this approach makes it clearer how the shared role of entrepreneurship relates to the broader small business gdp contribution. For more about the author, see the about page.

Next steps for researchers and civic readers. Pick a cutoff, access SCF or comparable microdata, classify business holdings by SUSB or SBA size bands, and present a documented range, which lets others reproduce or refine your localized estimate SUSB program page. For assistance, contact.