National Report on Early-Stage Entrepreneurship in the United States: 2025 (Kauffman Foundation)

Summary

• The rate of new entrepreneurs in 2025 was 0.36 percent, meaning an average of 360 out of every 100,000 adults became new entrepreneurs in a given month.p.5
• The opportunity share of new entrepreneurs increased to 83.3 percent in 2025 from a low of 69.8 percent in 2020, but remained below the 86.9 percent of 2019.p.5
• Startup early job creation in 2025 was 5.3 jobs per 1,000 people, remaining at the same level as the previous year.p.6
• The startup early survival rate was 77.9 percent in 2025, slightly lower than the previous year.p.6
• The KESE Index was 1.2 in 2025, up from 0.7 in 2024.p.24
• The rate of new entrepreneurs among immigrants was 0.60 percent in 2025, versus 0.30 percent for the native-born.p.13

Key insights

1. In 2025 the rate of new entrepreneurs was 0.28% for women and 0.44% for men.p.11
2. The KESE Index dropped from 1.2 in 2019 to 0.2 in 2020 and its lowest point was -1.9 in 2009.p.24
3. The startup early survival rate was 79.4 percent in 2019 compared with 77.9 percent in 2025.p.23
4. Startup early job creation per capita peaked at 7.9 in 1997 and has since declined by almost a third.p.22
5. Startup job creation dropped from 5.1 jobs per 1,000 people in 2019 to 4.7 in 2021 before rising to between 5.3 and 5.6.p.22
6. The rate of new entrepreneurs increased for all racial and ethnic groups in 2025, with the largest increase among those identifying as Black or African American.p.12