As one third of all businesses may be forced to close due to COVID-19, a recent study showed Hispanic-owned businesses in the Bronx were hurting well before the pandemic began.
On Sept. 2, the Center for an Urban Future released a report that revealed that the Bronx experienced a surprising 23 percent decline in Hispanic-owned businesses in recent years.
While it has a citywide focus, it includes new data about Hispanic businesses in the Bronx. The following are key findings from the recent study:
- The number of Hispanic-owned businesses in the Bronx decreased by 23 percent during the past five years, according to analysis of newly released Census data. Citywide, the number of Hispanic-owned businesses decreased by 8.7 percent. These declines in the Bronx and NYC occurred even as Hispanic-owned firms increased in most other large cities. Of all U.S. counties, the Bronx now has the 26th most Hispanic-owned businesses, which is down from number 20 five years earlier.
- Five years ago, Hispanic-owned businesses accounted for 20 percent of all businesses in the Bronx. But, that share dropped to 14 percent over the most recent five year period.
- Largely due to this major decrease in Hispanic-owned firms, the Bronx was the only borough that recorded a decrease in minority-owned firms during this five year period. The total number of minority-owned firms in the Bronx decreased by 9.6 percent (616 firms), and their share of businesses in the Bronx dropped from 43.5 percent to 37.7 percent.
- Black-owned businesses in the Bronx increased by 33 percent during the same five-year period and their share of total Bronx-based firms increased from 5.7 percent to 7.2 percent.
- The Bronx also recorded a 5.8 percent increase in Asian-owned businesses during the past five years.
Despite the drop in Hispanic-owned firms, the overall number of minority-owned businesses across the five boroughs grew by 7.4 percent, underscoring the role minority-owned companies play in the city’s economy. New York City is now home to over 64,500 minority-owned firms with employees, more than the total number of businesses in all of Dallas, San Francisco or Philadelphia, among other major cities.
Overall, every borough except the Bronx saw growth in minority-owned firms.
