Small business AI adoption data: the latest Census and SBA figures, with collection dates

In the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), collected September 7 to 20, 2026 and released September 24, 2026, 23.8% of U.S. employer businesses said they had used AI in at least one business function in the previous two weeks.

That is up from 17.3% in the first collection that asked the question this way, in November 2025. In that same release, 27.6% said they expect to be using AI within six months. So roughly one employer business in four uses AI today, and three in four did not say yes.

This guide gives the latest figures, when each was collected, how to read them, and what they mean for an owner. All figures are as of September 24, 2026. We update it when new releases change the picture.

How many small businesses use AI in 2026?

BTOS asks each business: “In the last two weeks, did this business use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in any of its business functions?” Census gives examples such as machine learning, natural language processing, virtual agents and voice recognition.

National results since Census revised the question in November 2025:

Collection period	Released	Used AI in the last two weeks
Nov 17 – Nov 30, 2025	Dec 4, 2025	17.3%
Dec 29, 2025 – Jan 11, 2026	Jan 15, 2026	17.7%
Feb 23 – Mar 8, 2026	Mar 12, 2026	18.2%
Apr 20 – May 3, 2026	May 7, 2026	19.8%
Jun 15 – Jun 28, 2026	Jul 2, 2026	20.6%
Aug 10 – Aug 23, 2026	Aug 27, 2026	22.4%
Sep 7 – Sep 20, 2026	Sep 24, 2026	23.8%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, BTOS national download file, retrieved September 24, 2026. Estimates are for employer businesses, excluding farms. The standard error on each national estimate is under 0.5 percentage points.

In the May 3, 2026 period, Census’s own write-up put national use at 19.8% and said use had held between 17% and 20% since December 2025. The releases since then show it moving above that range, to 23.8% by mid-September.

AI use by firm size

Here is the same question by number of employees, for the first and latest periods:

Employees	Nov 17–30, 2025	Sep 7–20, 2026	Expect to use within six months (Sep 2026)
1 to 4	17.0%	23.8%	27.2%
5 to 9	15.5%	21.1%	26.0%
10 to 19	17.8%	23.0%	26.9%
20 to 49	18.7%	24.5%	29.8%
50 to 99	20.7%	29.4%	35.0%
100 to 249	23.7%	34.1%	38.3%
250 or more	30.5%	44.0%	49.2%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, BTOS employment size class download file, retrieved September 24, 2026. Estimates for larger size classes have wider error margins; the September 2026 use estimate for firms with 250 or more employees carries a standard error of about 1.9 points, and the November 2025 use estimate and the September expectation estimate are about 2.5 points.

Two things stand out. Large firms use AI most. And the smallest employers, with one to four people, are right at the national rate, ahead of firms with five to nine. The SBA’s Office of Advocacy saw the same U-shape in older data: businesses with fewer than five employees used AI more than other small businesses.

AI use by industry

Industry spreads the numbers wider than size does. Selected sectors, September 7 to 20, 2026:

Sector (NAICS)	Used AI in the last two weeks
Information (51)	49.0%
Professional, scientific and technical services (54)	43.9%
Finance and insurance (52)	41.0%
Educational services (61)	30.0%
Real estate and rental and leasing (53)	29.6%
Health care and social assistance (62)	25.5%
Manufacturing (31–33)	19.5%
Retail trade (44–45)	16.5%
Construction (23)	15.4%
Other services (81)	15.0%
Accommodation and food services (72)	10.1%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, BTOS sector download file, retrieved September 24, 2026. Sector standard errors run from about 0.4 to 2.2 points for the rows shown.

A consulting firm and a restaurant are both “small businesses.” In this data they sit about 34 points apart.

How many U.S. businesses have no employees?

This matters for reading everything above. BTOS covers employer businesses only. The Census release says its data are “representative of all employer businesses in the U.S. economy, excluding farms.”

Most small businesses have no employees. The SBA Office of Advocacy’s Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business, released February 3, 2026, reports:

36,207,130 small businesses in the U.S., 99.9% of all businesses.
29,811,495 of them, or 82.3%, have no employees. The SBA calls these nonemployer firms.
6,395,635, or 17.7%, have paid employees.
Small businesses employ 62.3 million people, 45.9% of private-sector workers.

The FAQ is dated 2026, but several of its counts describe earlier years. The nonemployer count is for 2022.

So the solo consultant, the one-person agency and the freelance developer are the largest group of small businesses, and the BTOS AI figures do not include them. No Census or SBA source we found reports an AI-use rate for nonemployer firms.

What the SBA reported, and why its number is lower

The same SBA FAQ says 7.6% of businesses used AI between September 2024 and August 2025. Its September 24, 2025 research spotlight found small businesses (under 250 employees) at 8.8% for data gathered June 16 to September 7, 2025, up from 6.3% six months earlier.

Don’t compare those numbers with 23.8%. They come from the older BTOS question, which asked whether a business used AI to produce goods or services. In November 2025 Census changed it to ask about use “in any business function,” a broader net. Some of the gap between the two series likely comes from the new wording, not only from more businesses using AI.

The SBA spotlight also reported, from a Census AI supplement collected December 4, 2023 to February 25, 2024:

Nearly 82% of businesses under five employees that were not planning to use AI said it was not applicable to their business.
About half of small firms using AI reported no investment in it, whether in employee training, physical capital or intangible processes.

Those SBA figures are more than two and a half years old. They are not the newest official figures: the Census download file also includes an AI supplement collected November 17, 2025 to February 8, 2026, which asks why a business does not plan to use AI.

How to read these numbers

“Yes” is a low bar. One employee using a chatbot to draft an email can count the same as a company that rebuilt its operations. BTOS measures whether AI is used at all, not how much.
It’s self-reported. A business answers for itself. Two owners doing the same thing may answer differently.
It’s a two-week window. The question covers only the previous two weeks, so occasional users may say no.
It samples a lot of businesses. BTOS draws from about 1.2 million businesses, in six panels of about 200,000 that each report every 12 weeks for a year.
There’s a gap. A federal funding lapse stopped collection for reference periods from October 6 to November 16, 2025. Census did not fill it in.
Estimates have error. Census publishes a standard error for each estimate. Small differences between size classes or sectors may not be real.

What this means for an owner

Most employers still don’t report using AI. About three in four employer businesses did not say yes in September 2026. If you use AI well, you are still early.
Early is getting shorter. The share rose 6.5 points in ten months of collection, and more businesses expect to use it than use it now.
Small is not the obstacle. Employers with one to four people use AI at the national rate. What separates businesses is mostly the kind of work they do.
Compare yourself with your industry, not the national number. If you run a professional services firm, the relevant figure is 43.9%, not 23.8%.
In 2023–24 data, the main reason small firms gave for staying out was that AI didn’t apply to them. If that is your reason, test it on one real task before you accept it. What AI help costs has a worksheet for pricing that test, and Consultant, agency, build team or hire? covers who could help with it.

When this guide updates

BTOS releases new data every two weeks. The schedule in the Census download file lists the next release for October 8, 2026. We refresh the tables here when the numbers move enough to change what an owner should take from them, and note the date at the top.

If you want to see where your own business fits in these numbers, a Consult block ($400 an hour, in 5-hour blocks) is one way to work through it with us.