2015 Kauffman Index of Startup Activity: National Trends

Immigrants now account for 28.5 percent of all new entrepreneurs in the United States and are almost twice as likely than the native-born to become entrepreneurs (0.52 percent for the foreign-born vs. 0.27 percent for the native-born).

The 2015 Kauffman Index of Startup Activity: National Trends presents trends in startup activity over the past two decades at the national level. The authors define and discuss the three components of their Startup Activity Index: the Rate of New Entrepreneurs, defined as the percentage of adults becoming entrepreneurs in a given month; the Opportunity Share of New Entrepreneurs, defined as the percentage of new entrepreneurs driven primarily by "opportunity" vs. "necessity" (and loosely measured by the number of entrepreneurs unemployed prior to business formation); and the Startup Density, measured as the number of startups per 100,000 people. According to the report, startup activity rose in 2014, reversing a five-year downward trend in the United States, although the index remains below historical trends. Driving this growth were increases in the rate of new entrepreneurs for men (0.41 percent in 2014 vs. 0.34 percent in 2013), Latinos (0.46 percent in 2014 vs. 0.38 percent in 2013) and immigrants (0.52 percent in 2014 vs. 0.43 percent in 2013). There was also a small rise in the opportunity share of new entrepreneurs across all demographic groups, especially among men, and a modest increase in the startup density after several years of declining rates.

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