The ABS measures business owner demographics, research and development (R&D), innovation, and other topics of interest among businesses in the United States. The ABS is a joint statistical project between the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) within the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Census Bureau.

YOUR RESPONSE IS REQUIRED BY LAW. Title 13, United States Code, Sections 8(b), 131, and 182, Title 42, United States Code, Sections 1861-76 (National Science Foundation Act of 1950, as amended), and Section 505 within the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 authorize this collection. Sections 224 and 225 of Title 13 require your response. The U.S. Census Bureau is required by Section 9 of Title 13 to keep your information CONFIDENTIAL and can use your responses only to produce statistics. The Census Bureau is not permitted to publicly release your responses in a way that could identify your business, organization, or institution. Per the Federal Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015, your data are protected from cybersecurity risks through screening of the systems that transmit your data. 

All domestic, non-farm, for profit businesses with at least one paid employee. Additionally, non-profit organizations (excluding universities) that operate in industries identified as potentially having R&D are sampled. For details on coverage, see our technical documentation. 

The ABS measures business owner demographics, research and development (R&D), innovation, and other topics of interest. For an informational copy of the current year questionnaire, see our information for respondents page.

The ABS is collected annually.

The ABS samples approximately 850,000 employer businesses every 5 years and approximately 230,000 employer businesses annually. Businesses selected for the survey receive an initial letter informing the respondents of their requirement to complete the survey and provides survey access instructions.

For more detailed information on survey methodology, see our technical documentation.

For the latest ABS data products, see our data.

Statistics from the ABS will be used by government program officials, industry organization leaders, economic and social analysts, business entrepreneurs, and domestic and foreign researchers in business, government, and academia.

Business owner characteristic data from ABS are used by the National Women’s Business Council to assess the state of women’s business ownership for policymakers, researchers, and the public at large. Consultants and researchers use ABS data to analyze long-term economic and demographic shifts, and differences in ownership and performance among geographic areas. Individual business owners use ABS data to analyze their operations in comparison to similar firms, compute their market share, and assess their growth and future prospects.

R&D data collected from for-profit businesses and nonprofit organizations account for nearly 75 percent of the total U.S. R&D expenditures each year. A consistent R&D information base is essential to government officials formulating public policy, industry personnel involved in corporate planning, and members of the academic community conducting research.

U.S. R&D expenditures statistics from ABS are used by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) for incorporating R&D as fixed investment in updates to the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPAs).