Key points from the chart
- The chart follows US private-sector businesses founded in 2013 and shows the share in each industry still operating every year up to 2023.
- Only about one-third survived a decade. The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the figure at 34.7% for all private-sector establishments [2].
- Agriculture and forestry had the best 10-year survival rate at 51%. Mining, oil and gas had the worst at 25%.
- Most industries ended between 34% and 46%. Technology (29%) and legal and accounting (31%) were near the bottom.
- The steepest fall came in the first year, when the overall survival rate dropped by 20.4 percentage points [2].
Business survival rates by industry, the chart in text
Title. The Survival Rate of U.S. Businesses.
Chart. Fifteen lines, one per industry, start at 100% in 2013 and fall to their 2023 level. The y-axis runs from 0% to 100%; the x-axis is marked 2013, 2018 and 2023.
Callout. Only one-third of all businesses created in 2013 have survived for a decade.
Footnotes. Figures rounded. Some industry names modified for readability. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics (2024). Visual Capitalist logo, with a Voronoi app banner.
The graphic’s 2023 figures, with the unrounded BLS series for the matching industry [2]. All figures are for March of each year.
| Industry on the graphic | Still operating in 2023 (graphic) | BLS industry | 2014 | 2018 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture & forestry | 51% | Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting | 87.5% | 66.2% | 50.5% |
| Utilities | 46% | Utilities | 80.7% | 56.6% | 45.7% |
| Manufacturing | 44% | Manufacturing | 82.6% | 57.7% | 43.6% |
| Real estate | 42% | Real estate and rental and leasing | 83.9% | 58.7% | 42.2% |
| Retail trade | 42% | Retail trade | 84.2% | 58.3% | 41.7% |
| Construction | 40% | Construction | 76.0% | 53.9% | 40.1% |
| Education | 39% | Educational services | 81.8% | 56.0% | 38.9% |
| Hospitality | 38% | Accommodation and food services | 82.5% | 55.3% | 38.2% |
| Finance | 38% | Finance and insurance | 80.9% | 53.2% | 37.5% |
| Health | 36% | Health care and social assistance | 82.7% | 55.1% | 35.7% |
| Entertainment | 35% | Arts, entertainment and recreation | 80.6% | 52.9% | 35.4% |
| Transportation | 34% | Transportation and warehousing | 79.4% | 50.1% | 34.0% |
| Legal & accounting | 31% | Professional, scientific and technical services | 77.0% | 46.3% | 30.9% |
| Technology | 29% | Information | 74.9% | 44.3% | 29.1% |
| Mining, oil & gas | 25% | Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction | 79.4% | 40.2% | 24.5% |
What the BLS data shows
The figures come from the BLS Business Employment Dynamics programme, which tracks private-sector business establishments by the year they opened [2]. For establishments born in March 2013, 79.6% were still operating a year later, 50.6% after five years and 34.7% after ten [2].
The first year was the hardest in every large industry group. Construction fell furthest, by 24.0 percentage points between 2013 and 2014 [2]. After that the yearly declines generally got smaller. Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction was the exception: it lost 15.3 points between 2015 and 2016 alone and stayed below the other sectors from then on [2].
Visual Capitalist’s article on the chart notes that agriculture and mining sit at opposite ends even though both receive large government subsidies. It suggests ownership and business size may help explain the gap, since 97% of US farms are family-owned [1].
Notes on this infographic
- The BLS release counts business establishments rather than companies [2]. The chart therefore covers all new private-sector establishments, not only small businesses.
- The graphic shows 15 industries. The BLS release also covers other services (39.6% surviving in 2023), administrative and waste services (34.2%), management of companies (33.0%) and wholesale trade (30.1%) [2], which the chart leaves out.
- The industry labels are shortened, as the footnote says. “Technology” is the BLS information sector and “Legal & accounting” is professional, scientific and technical services [1][2].
- All percentages on the graphic match the BLS figures once rounded to whole numbers.
Questions about business survival rates
How long do most businesses last?
In the BLS data for establishments opened in March 2013, about half (50.6%) were still operating five years later and about one-third (34.7%) after ten years [2].
What does survival mean in business?
In this data, an establishment survives in a given year if it is still in operation then. The BLS measures it by following each year’s new private-sector establishments and recording the share still operating in March of each later year [2].
What business is least likely to fail?
Among the industries in this chart, agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting had the highest 10-year survival rate, 50.5%, followed by utilities (45.7%) and manufacturing (43.6%) [2]. These are averages for a whole industry and do not predict how any single business will do.
Is it true that 90% of startups fail?
This data does not show that. Of all US private-sector establishments opened in March 2013, 34.7% were still operating in 2023, which means about 65% had closed within ten years [2]. The BLS figures cover all new establishments, not only venture-backed startups.
Sources
- Visual Capitalist, Charted: The Survival Rate of U.S. Businesses (2013-2023), 19 November 2024. The creator’s original article with this chart.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Economics Daily, 34.7 percent of business establishments born in 2013 were still operating in 2023, 12 January 2024.
Last reviewed 30 October 2026
