Blacks Increase Ownership of Businesses, Census Says

Blacks have increased their share of the nation’s business to 3.36%, and the Los Angeles-Long Beach area continues to have the highest number of black-owned firms, the U.S. Census Bureau said Tuesday.

In addition, Los Angeles led in the number of businesses owned by other minorities and women, but no comparable figures were available for earlier periods, the bureau said.

Mayor Tom Bradley said the results showed Los Angeles “is a city of great and growing opportunity.”

The findings were based on a 1982 Census Bureau survey.

The survey found that blacks in 1982 owned 339,329 of the nation’s 10.1 million non-farm proprietorships. In 1977, the last time a similar study was done, blacks owned 231,230 of 11.3 million such businesses, or slightly over 2%.

The Los Angeles-Long Beach metropolitan region had the most black businesses with 23,520, followed by New York-New Jersey, 20,242; Washington-Maryland-Virginia, 18,805; Chicago, 13,660, and Houston, 12,206.

The Los Angeles-Long Beach region also led the nation with the highest number of black-owned businesses in the 1977 survey, the Census Bureau said.

In the latest survey, the federal agency also listed business ownership by Latinos and by Asians, American Indians and other minorities.

Of 255,642 Latino businesses, Los Angeles-Long Beach had the most with 29,982, followed by Miami, 24,898; New York-New Jersey, 12,292; San Antonio, Tex., 10,341, and Houston, 9,276.

There were 248,141 businesses in the nation owned by Asians, American Indians and other minorities. Of those, Los Angeles-Long Beach had the largest number with 38,331. Honolulu was second with 21,676, followed by San Francisco-Oakland, 19,556; New York-New Jersey, 15,885, and Chicago with 8,553.

Women owned 2.88 million, or 28.5%, of the nation’s businesses in 1982, the bureau said.

Of those, Los Angeles-Long Beach had the largest number with 117,468, followed by New York-New Jersey, 101,223; Chicago, 68,277; San Francisco-Oakland, 64,413, and Dallas-Fort Worth, 56,448.