Richmond ties at 6th spot nationwide as best hubs for Black owned businesses: study
VENN
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- A new study completed by LendingTree ranked Richmond as the city with the sixth-highest amount of Black-owned businesses across the country, tied with Baltimore, in 2023.
According to LendingTree, the latest available data in 2023 looked at where these Black-owned businesses are most and least represented across major U.S. metros, along with how those patterns are changing.
Richmond and Virginia Beach fell in the top ten cities for Black-owned businesses in the U.S. In 2022, Richmond ranked seventh in the nation with the area seeing 2% increase in Black-owned businesses within the area.
Of the 25,043 businesses in Richmond, roughly 4.4% or 1,125 were Hispanic-owned in 2023.
In 2023, of the businesses in Richmond, 8% were Black-owned, which is 4.6% above the national average, according to LendingTree. In the Hampton Roads area, 8.8% of Virginia Beach's businesses were Black-owned, 5.4% above the national average.
Nationwide, Black-owned businesses only made up 3.4% of businesses in the U.S., with 80.6% of businesses being White-owned, 11.5% being Asian-owned, 0.9% owned by American Indian and Alaska Native communities and 0.2% owned by Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander communities.
"Black-owned businesses make up just 3.4% of all U.S. businesses," said LendingTree Chief Consumer Finance Analyst Matt Schulz. "This figure still reflects growth and shows that Black entrepreneurs continue to drive momentum in the face of real challenges, including limited access to affordable capital, high interest rates, and persistent inflation."
Shulz added, "Their resilience and innovation are shaping local economies and creating opportunities across the country."
According to LendingTree, nationwide, one in four Black-owned businesses were within the healthcare assistance industry, which was up over 1% from 2022.
Almost 40% of all Black-owned businesses in 2023 were reportedly owned by women, as they are slightly more likely to have a young business or businesses younger than two years, according to the study.
Atlanta was ranked as the number one city for Black-owned businesses in 2023 for the fourth year in a row, followed by Fayetteville, N.C., in number two and Washington, D.C., at number three. Memphis, Tenn., came in fourth, followed by Virginia Beach and Richmond in sixth, along with Baltimore.
