Delaware Small Business Sales Statistics

Updated October 13, 2026

Delaware had 111,346 small businesses in 2022, which is 98.7% of all businesses in the state, and they employed 214,539 people, or 50.6% of the state's employees. BizBuySell's published tables do not include a metro area centered in Delaware, so this page has no sale-price figures.

111,346Small businesses, 2022
214,539Small business employees, 2022
50.6%Share of state employees, 2022
4,580Establishments opened, Mar 2023 to Mar 2024

Delaware small business context

Delaware had 111,346 small businesses in 2022, which is 98.7% of all businesses in the state.

MeasureFigureData year
Small businesses111,346 (98.7% of all businesses)2022
Small businesses without employees88,5302022
Employers with 1 to 19 employees19,8492022
Employers with 20 to 499 employees2,9672022
Small business employees214,539 (50.6% of state employees)2022
Establishments opened, all businesses4,580March 2023 to March 2024
Establishments closed, all businesses3,753March 2023 to March 2024
Openings by small businesses4,378March 2023 to March 2024
Closings by small businesses3,614March 2023 to March 2024
Net job change, all businesses+6,992March 2023 to March 2024
Net job change, small businesses+5,323 (76.1% of the net change)March 2023 to March 2024
Female-owned businesses37,885 (43.5%)2022
Veteran-owned businesses5,358 (6.3%)2022

Source: SBA Office of Advocacy, Delaware 2025 Small Business Profile. Business counts and owner demographics are Census data. Opening, closing, and job figures are Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Small businesses are firms with fewer than 500 employees.

About this data and its limits

  • BizBuySell's published geography tables include Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, which is centered in another state and includes part of Delaware. See the Pennsylvania page for those sale figures. This page has no sale-price or days-on-market figures of its own.
  • The tables use different periods: SBA business counts are 2022, and SBA job and openings figures run March 2023 to March 2024. Each period is labeled where it appears.
  • Counts of openings and closings include temporary closures and reopenings, according to the SBA Office of Advocacy.

To see what drives these numbers for your own business, read our valuation guides or browse industries.

Frequently asked questions

How many small businesses are there in Delaware?

The SBA Office of Advocacy counted 111,346 small businesses in Delaware in 2022, which is 98.7% of all businesses in the state. Of these, 22,816 had employees.

How many people work for small businesses in Delaware?

Small businesses in Delaware employed 214,539 people in 2022, which is 50.6% of the state's employees, according to the SBA Office of Advocacy.

How many businesses opened and closed in Delaware?

Between March 2023 and March 2024, 4,580 establishments opened and 3,753 closed in Delaware. Small businesses accounted for 4,378 of the openings and 3,614 of the closings.

Sources

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This page is informational. It is not an appraisal, an offer, or a prediction of what any business will sell for. Figures come from the sources listed and may change when those sources are updated.

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