How Many Small Businesses Are in Georgia in 2026?

Georgia is home to 1.4 million small businesses in 2026, which make up 99.7% of all firms in the state and employ 1.8 million people. Here is where Georgia’s small business economy stands in 2026, by the numbers on jobs, industries, ownership, and startup costs.

How Many Small Businesses Operate in Georgia?

In Georgia, 99.7% of firms are small, and they hold more than 40% of the state’s private jobs, according to the newest SBA state profile for Georgia.

Georgia has 1.4 million small businesses, which is 99.7% of all businesses in the state.
Small businesses employ 1.8 million people in Georgia, about 42.5% of the state’s workforce.
The state is home to 1,175,541 nonemployer businesses, solo ventures with no paid staff, which together took in $57.9 billion in receipts.
The small business count grew from about 1.3 million in the 2024 profile to 1.4 million, a strong year-over-year gain.

Georgia Wages, Top to Bottom

Georgia’s highest earners in management clear about $157,000 a year, while food-service pay sits near $27,000.

The state’s 4.2 million private-sector workers earned an average of $71,592 in 2024.
The highest-paying sectors are management of companies ($156,556) and information ($138,444).
The lowest-paying major sector is accommodation and food services, at $26,687 a year.
Private employment grew 0.9% between 2023 and 2024, led by health care.

Where Georgians Work

Across 383,400 private establishments, Georgia employs about 4.2 million workers. Health care and retail lead, followed by accommodation and food service and a solid manufacturing base.

Health care and social assistance is the largest employer, with 587,944 jobs across 35,943 establishments.
Retail trade supports 511,713 jobs across 38,010 establishments.
Accommodation and food services employs 449,486 workers across 26,556 establishments.
Manufacturing supports 426,771 jobs across 13,487 establishments.
Professional, scientific and technical services has the most establishments of the sectors shown, with 57,768 locations and 334,588 jobs.

Georgia’s Job-Growth Leaders in 2024

Health care and the arts posted Georgia’s biggest job gains heading into 2024.

Health care and social assistance grew employment 6.1%, the fastest among major sectors.
Arts, entertainment and recreation rose 6.0%, followed by other services at 4.4% and construction at 4.1%.

Small Business Hubs: Atlanta, Gwinnett and Cobb

Metro Atlanta is the center of gravity for Georgia business. The county numbers below include every private establishment, not just small firms.

Fulton County (Atlanta) leads the state with 72,158 establishments and 841,254 jobs.
Cobb County has 28,153 establishments and 349,315 jobs.
Gwinnett County hosts 33,816 establishments and 344,535 jobs.

How New Business Filings Have Shifted in Georgia

Georgia’s rush of new business filings crested in 2021 and has settled to a lower, steady pace since.

Georgians filed about 254,000 new business applications in 2025.
Applications peaked near 328,000 in 2021 and have since ranged between about 244,000 and 278,000 a year.

Financing and Exports for Georgia Small Businesses

Georgia’s smaller companies get a lift from SBA-backed loans and from selling abroad.

SBA Loan Volume in Georgia

Lenders backed more than $1.5 billion in SBA loans to Georgia businesses in fiscal 2024, per SBA loan approval data.

SBA 7(a) loans totaled 2,033 loans for $1.30 billion.
SBA 504 loans added 192 loans for $275.6 million, and the Microloan program provided 50 loans for $1.5 million.

Georgia Small Business Exporters

About 87% of Georgia’s exporters are small businesses, even if big firms account for most export revenue.

12,604 small firms exported from Georgia in 2023, 87.4% of all identified exporters.
Small businesses generated $13.7 billion in exports, 29.0% of the state’s identified-firm export value.

The People Who Own Georgia’s Businesses

Georgia had 187,538 employer firms as of 2022, including sizeable numbers of Black-owned and Asian-owned businesses.

Women own 44,187 Georgia employer firms.
Asian-owned employer firms number 26,144, and Black-owned firms total 16,973.
Hispanic-owned employer firms number 8,613, and veteran-owned firms total 10,394.
In all, 52,089 Georgia employer firms are minority-owned.

The Georgia Economy and Its Tourism Draw

Georgia’s sizeable economy means a large pool of local customers for small firms.

Georgia’s GDP reached $924.8 billion in 2025 in current dollars.
Adjusted for inflation, real GDP was $710.4 billion.
Nonemployer businesses alone generated $57.9 billion in receipts in 2022.

How Tourism Supports Georgia Businesses

Georgia’s hospitality businesses lean heavily on visitor spending, which Explore Georgia adds up each year.

Travelers spent $45.2 billion in Georgia in 2024, part of an $82 billion total economic impact.
The state drew 174.2 million visitors, and tourism supported 470,570 jobs.
Travel activity generated $5.1 billion in state and local tax revenue.

Georgia Startup Costs and Taxes in 2026

Georgia’s startup fees stay modest, and the state trimmed its income tax again for 2026. Our step-by-step guide to starting an LLC in Georgia lays out each step.

Fees to Start a Georgia LLC or Corporation

Georgia’s business filing fees run through the Secretary of State.

Filing Articles of Organization for a Georgia LLC costs $100 online ($110 by mail).
Georgia requires an annual registration fee of $50 to keep the business active.
Filing Articles of Incorporation for a corporation also costs $100. Every entity must appoint a Georgia registered agent. To compare providers, see the best Georgia LLC services.

Taxes and Minimum Wage for Georgia Businesses

Georgia now uses a lower flat income tax for 2026 and adds a 4% state sales tax before county rates.

Georgia’s individual income tax is a flat 4.99% for 2026.
The state sales tax rate is 4.0% before local add-ons.
Georgia’s minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, the federal rate, which applies to most employers.

What Georgia Founders Ask Most

These are the questions Georgia entrepreneurs search for most, each answered using the latest government data.