The Kauffman Indicators of Entrepreneurship offer in-depth measures, reports, and accompanying interactive data visualizations that present entrepreneurial trends in the United States.

The Entrepreneurial Jobs Series

The Entrepreneurial Jobs series captures dimensions related to the quantity and quality of private sector jobs, allowing for comparisons by firm age group (source of jobs) and geography (location of jobs).

This series is the third set of data in the Kauffman Indicators of Entrepreneurship, and is presented across four clear indicators – contribution, compensation, creation, and constancy.

The New Employer Business Series

The New Employer Business series provides information on new employer businesses, a subset of all entrepreneurial activity. The series includes measures which capture trends in the emergence of these businesses, their representation in the population and among all firms, and the time it takes these businesses to make a first payroll.

The New Employer Business series is the second set of data in the Kauffman Indicators of Entrepreneurship, and is presented across four clear indicators – rate of new employer business actualization, rate of new employer businesses, new employer business velocity, and employer business newness – as well as the new employer business actualization speed [NEBAS] index.

The Early-Stage Entrepreneurship Series

The Early-Stage Entrepreneurship series is a set of measures that represents new business creation in the United States, integrating several high-quality, timely sources of information on early-stage entrepreneurship.

This series is the first set of data in the Kauffman Indicators of Entrepreneurship, and is presented across four clear indicators – rate of new entrepreneurs, opportunity share of new entrepreneurs, startup early job creation, and startup early survival rate – as well as one single, early-stage entrepreneurship score, the Kauffman early-stage entrepreneurship [KESE] index.

A key goal of both series of indicators currently available is to provide a balanced perspective on measuring a complex phenomenon, and is intended to be directly relevant to users.

Data are continually changing, and future years may see revisions to the methodology if appropriate.

From Index to Indicators

The Kauffman Indicators of Entrepreneurship replaces the previous Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurship, which tracked entrepreneurship across Startup Activity, Growth Entrepreneurship, and Main Street Entrepreneurship. The shift to the Kauffman Indicators of Entrepreneurship was motivated by several priorities, including the need for a series of clear indicators, timely and current information in the context of existing data constraints, and a focus on the nature of early-stage entrepreneurship. The Kauffman Foundation received input from policymakers, researchers, and other stakeholders about how to best accomplish these goals.