The American Business Survey (ABS) provides information on selected economic and demographic characteristics for businesses and business owners by sex, ethnicity, race, and veteran status. Further, the survey measures research and development (for microbusinesses), new business topics such as innovation and technology, as well as other business characteristics. The ABS is conducted jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics within the National Science Foundation. The ABS replaces the five-year Survey of Business Owners (SBO) for employer businesses, the Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs (ASE), the Business R&D and Innovation for Microbusinesses survey (BRDI-M), and the innovation section of the Business R&D and Innovation Survey (BRDI-S). See Variables BELOW.
Last updated : 2025 Nov. 15
The ABS has 85 tables (Based on most recent survey) Most of the tables represent either state of industry, sector or size of firm as the primary variables.
See HERE for index of variables by table.
Direct URL : https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Xl8kmKWUj7UQGTZc7aeldDS3cBFklWij3epuPlsTq34/edit?usp=sharing
See BELOW for table names grouped thematically
Aggregate R&D estimates
Table 1. Annual Business Survey aggregate R&D estimates, by questionnaire reference and company size, for companies with 1–9 employees in selected industries
Total R&D costs
Table 2. Total R&D cost, by selected industry and company size, for companies with 1–9 employees
Table 3. Total R&D cost, by selected industry and company size, for companies with 1–9 employees : [Four year retrospective]
Domestic R&D performed by the company
Table 4. Domestic R&D performed by the company, by selected industry and company size, for companies with 1–9 employees
Table 5. Domestic R&D performed by the company, by selected industry and R&D program size, for companies with 1–9 employees: 2022
Table 6. Domestic R&D costs, by selected industry and type of cost, for companies with 1–9 employees: 2022
Table 7. Domestic R&D performed by the company, by selected industry and source of funds, for companies with 1–9 employees
Table 8. Domestic R&D performed by the company and funded by the federal government and selected industry, by company size, for companies with 1–9 employees
Table 9. Domestic R&D performed by the company, by selected industry and type of R&D, for companies with 1–9 employees
Table 10. Domestic R&D performed by the company that was paid for by the U.S. federal government, by selected industry and type of R&D, for companies with 1–9 employees
Table 11. Domestic R&D performed by the company, by selected industry, for companies with 1–9 employees: [Four year retrospective]
Table 12. Domestic sales and domestic R&D performed by the company as a percentage of domestic sales, by selected industry and company size, for companies with 1–9 employees
Table 13. Domestic R&D performed by the company, by state and company size, for companies with 1–9 employees
Table 14. Domestic R&D performed by the company, by state and source of funds, for companies with 1–9 employees
Domestic R&D employees
Table 15. Domestic R&D employees, by selected industry and company size, for companies with 1–9 employees
Table 16. Domestic R&D employees, by selected industry and sex, for companies with 1–9 employees
Table 17. Domestic R&D employees, by selected industry and R&D work activity, for companies with 1–9 employees
Table 18. Domestic R&D researchers with PhDs, by selected industry, for companies with 1–9 employees
Table 19. Domestic full-time equivalent R&D employees and researchers, by selected industry and work activity, for companies with 1–9 employees
Tax credit for research activities
Table 20. Tax credit for research activities, by industry, for companies with R&D expenditures and 1–9 employees
Domestic employees
Table 21. Domestic employees, by selected industry and company size, for R&D-active companies with 1–9 employees
Product innovation
Table 22. Product innovating companies, by industry [Two year retrospective]
Table 23. Product innovating companies, by company size [Two year retrospective]
Business process innovation
Table 24. Business process innovating companies, by industry [Two year retrospective]
Table 25. Business process innovating companies, by company size [Two year retrospective]
New-to-market product innovation
Table 26. Companies with new-to-market product innovation, by industry [Two year retrospective]
Table 27. Companies with new-to-market product innovation, by company size [Two year retrospective]
New-to-business product innovation
Table 28. Companies with new-to-the-business product innovation, by industry
Table 29. Companies with new-to-the-business product innovation, by company size [Two year retrospective]
Product or business process innovation
Table 30. Product or business process innovating companies, by industry [Two year retrospective]
Table 31. Product or business process innovating companies, by company size [Two year retrospective]
Capital expenditures
Table 32. Total capital expenditures for R&D operations, by type of cost and selected industry, for companies with 1–9 employees
Table 33. Total capital expenditures for R&D operations, by type of cost and company size, for companies with 1–9 employees in selected industries
Domestic R&D performed by the company
Table 34. Domestic R&D performed by the company, by firm classification of sex and company size, for companies with 1–9 employees
Number of domestic employees for companies with 1–9 employees
Table 35. Domestic employees, by selected industry and company size, for companies with 1–9 employees
Aggregate sales estimates
Table 36. Annual Business Survey aggregate sales estimates, by questionnaire reference and company size
Number of companies
Table 37. Companies, by industry and company size
Sales and revenues
Table 38. Worldwide sales, revenues, and grants, by industry and company size
Table 39. Sales and revenues from U.S. operations, by industry and company size
Domestic employees, all company sizes
Table 40. Domestic employees, by industry and company size
Sources of domestic sales and revenue
Table 41. Sources of domestic sales and revenue, by industry
Table 42. Sources of domestic sales and revenue, by size of company
Table 43. Sources of domestic sales and revenue, by R&D activity, for companies with 1–9 employees in selected industries
Product innovation
Table 44. Product innovating companies, by firm classification of sex [Two year retrospective]
Table 45. Product innovating companies, by state [Two year retrospective]
Table 46. Goods and services innovating companies, by industry [Two year retrospective]
Table 47. Goods and services innovating companies, by company size [Two year retrospective]
Table 48. Product innovating companies, by industry [Four year retrospective]
Table 49. Product innovating companies, by company size [Four year retrospective]
Product or business process innovation
Table 50. Product or business process innovating companies, by firm classification of sex [Two year retrospective]
Table 51. Product or business process innovating companies, by state and type of industry [Two year retrospective]
Product or business process innovation activities
Table 52. Companies with product or business process innovation activities, by company size [Two year retrospective]
Table 53. Companies with product or business process innovations that had cooperation with other business or organization on innovation, by company size [Two year Retrospective]
Innovation and partners
Table 54. Companies who had cooperation with other businesses or organizations on innovation, by location of partner [Two year retrospective]
Table 55. Companies using government programs to aid innovation activities, by industry [Two year retrospective]
Table 56. Companies using government programs to aid innovation activities, by company size [Two Year Retrospective]
Factors discouraging innovations
Table 57. Companies reporting factors discouraging innovation activities [Two Year Retrospective]
R&D tax credit
Table 58. Tax credit for research activities, by selected industry, for companies with 1–9 employees
Table 59. State tax credit for research activities, by selected industry, for companies with 1–9 employees
Financing, credit, and profitability
Table 60. Business that needed additional financing, by industry
Table 61. Business that needed additional financing, by company size
Table 62. Companies that applied for new credit, by industry and source
Table 63. Companies that applied for new credit, by company size and source
Table 64. Reasons for not applying for additional financing, by company size
Table 65. Profitability, by industry
Table 66. Profitability, by company size
Table 67. Companies reporting factors that negatively impacted profitability, by industry
Table 68. Companies reporting factors that negatively impacted profitability, by company size
Intellectual property protection
Table 69. Companies with intellectual property activities, by industry
Table 70. Companies with intellectual property activities, by company size
Table 71. Importance of intellectual property
Table 72. Importance of intellectual property, by industry
Table 73. Importance of intellectual property, by company size
Use of artificial intelligence
Table 74. Use of artificial intelligence as a production technology for goods and services, by industry [Two year Retrospective]
Table 75. Use of artificial intelligence as a production technology for goods and services, by company size [Two year retrospective]
Use of cloud-based computing systems and applications
Table 76. Use of cloud-based computing systems and applications as a production technology for goods and services, by industry
Table 77. Use of cloud-based computing systems and applications as a production technology for goods and services, by company size [Two Year Retrospective]
Use of specialized software
Table 78. Use of specialized software as a production technology for goods and services, by industry
Table 79. Use of specialized software as a production technology for goods and services, by company size [Two Year Retrospective]
Use of robotics
Table 80. Use of robotics as a production technology for goods and services, by industry [Two Year Retrospective]
Table 81. Use of robotics as a production technology for goods and services, by company size
Use of specialized equipment
Table 82. Use of specialized equipment as a production technology for goods and services, by industry [Two Year Retrospective]
Table 83. Use of specialized equipment as a production technology for goods and services, by company size [Two Year Retrospective]
Companies that sold or provided goods or services that included specific technologies
Table 84. Companies that sold or provided goods or services that included specific technologies, by industry and technology [Two Year Retrospective]
Table 85. Companies that sold or provided goods or services that included specific technologies, by company size and technology
Response Rates and other metadata
Table A-1. Companies in the sampling frame and selected for the sample, by industry
Table A-2. Response measures
Table A-3. Unit response rates, by industry
