Census Statistics of U.S. Businesses (SUSB) — is an annual series that provides national and sub-national data on the distribution of economic data by size and industry. The series excludes data on non-employer businesses, private households, railroads, agricultural production, and most government entities.

Census Business Information Tracking (BITS) — BITS is a longitudinal (or dynamic) database showing how much of the annual change in SUSB establishment and employment numbers was due to establishment births, deaths, expansions and contractions.

Composition section —composition shows how establishments and jobs are distributed according to the three employer sectors and four growth stages. This section provides a baseline for seeing what types of employers and stages exist in a region — and their share of establishments and jobs.

Default view— is the last 3 year period for Composition and Growth.

Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) Number (DUNS) — NETS and YourEconomy data is built by tracking individual establishments according to their DUNS number. DUNS numbers start with establishments as they open and stays with them as they grow, contract, move, and even close. Businesses are contacted each year by Dun & Bradstreet and asked to report changes in activity, employment and revenue.

Establishment — an economic unit that produces goods or services at a single physical location. An establishment in YourEconomy.org simply has a unique DUNS number.

Factor— to measure growth accurately, YourEconomy.org follows the net change in establishments and jobs with the following three factors: opened, relocated, and expanded.

FIPS codes (state)— 01-Alabama 02-Alaska 04-Arizona 05-Arkansas 06-California 08-Colorado 09-Connecticut 10-Delaware 12-Florida 13-Georgia 15-Hawaii 16-Idaho 17-Illinois 18-Indiana 19-Iowa 20-Kansas 21-Kentucky 22-Louisiana 23-Maine 24-Maryland 25-Massachusetts 26-Michigan 27-Minnesota 28-Mississippi 29-Missouri 30-Montana 31-Nebraska 32-Nevada 33-New Hampshire 34-New Jersey 35-New Mexico 36-New York 37-North Carolina 38-North Dakota 39-Ohio 40-Oklahoma 41-Oregon 42-Pennsylvania 44 Rhode Island 45 South Carolina 46-South Dakota 47-Tennessee 48-Texas 49-Utah 50-Vermont 51-Virginia 53-Washington 54-West Virginia 55-Wisconsin 56-Wyoming

Firm — most traditional data sources track business activity according to firms (a standalone establishment or a collection of all establishments owned by a parent company).

Growth section — the growth section of YourEconomy.org follows openings, closings, expansions, contractions, move-ins and move-outs (factors) of establishments — showing how this activity affects job gains and losses.

Move In (Out) — total establishments (with corresponding jobs) that move physical location in or out of a region (county, MSA, state) for the period (year or years) being viewed.

MSA — metropolitan statistical areas (metro and micro areas) are geographic entities used by Federal statistical agencies in collecting, tabulating, and publishing Federal statistics. A metro area contains a core urban area of 50,000 or more population.

NAICS — the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is the standard used by Federal statistical agencies in classifying business establishments for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. business economy. 2007 NAICS drill down chart from Census.

NETS (National Establishment Time Series) Database— The NETS longitudinal database used to generate YourEconomy.org statistics is large, with 36.5 million records for U.S. establishments that existed any time between 1990 and the present. Among these 36.5 million establishments, 17 million are still active and report over 500 million employees. NETS has many features that set it apart from other data sets. Also among these are more small businesses, more industry classifications, historical accuracy, establishment verification vs. business sampling, and business relocation accuracy. Its statistics are derived from the entire population of establishments in D&B records. D&B attempts to identify every establishment in the universe of establishments.

Noncommercial establishments sector — educational institutions, post offices, government agencies and other nonprofit organizations. (Although most hospitals are nonprofits, we've included all healthcare-related companies in the resident and nonresident categories due to the large variety of businesses — both profit and nonprofit — that make up the healthcare industry.)

SIC (Standard Industrial Classification)
43 — United States Postal Service
82 — Educational Services, which includes elementary and secondary schools, colleges and universities, business and vocational schools and educational services
84 — Museums, Art Galleries and Botanical and Zoological Gardens
86 — Membership Organizations. Sub-categories include business associations as well as professional, labor, civic, social, political, religious and membership organizations
91 — Executive, Legislative & General Government, Except Finance
92 — Justice, Public Order and Safety, which includes courts, police and fire protection, correctional institutions
93 — Public Finance, Taxation and Monetary Policy
94 — Administration of Human Resource Programs, which includes administration for educational, public health, social and manpower programs as well as veterans' affairs
95 — Administration of Environmental Quality and Housing Programs
96 — Administration of Economic Programs
97 — National Security and International Affairs

NAICS (North American Industry Classification System)
491110 — Postal Service
61 — Educational Services
519120 — Libraries and Archives
712 — Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions
813 — Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations
92 — Public Administration

Nonresident establishments sector — businesses that are located in the area but headquartered in a different state.

Resident establishments sector — either stand-alone businesses in the area or businesses with headquarters in the same state. (Although most hospitals are nonprofits, we've included all healthcare-related companies in the resident and nonresident categories due to the large variety of businesses — both profit and nonprofit — that make up the health-care industry.)

Sole proprietors and partnerships — NETS includes sole proprietors and partnership establishments that are active enough for D&B to find. In contrast, proprietorships and partnerships that haven't hired employees aren't included in the Census Bureau's Statistics of U.S. Businesses (SUSB) or Business Information Tracking Series (BITS) because they are considered to be non-employers. Also, if a business is listed in SUSB or BITS, its owners and partners are not counted as employees. These differences mean that NETS represents a greater total of small-business establishments and employees than the SUSB and BITS databases.

Stage clusters — provide a good balance to serving industry clusters like tourism or biotech, which economic developers traditionally have targeted to strengthen business communities. Stage clusters provide a different framework for understanding the needs of businesses and supporting their growth—one that could help communities better leverage resources. For regardless of their industry sector, companies in the same developmental stage experience similar challenges. And, as companies move through these stages, not only do their internal needs change, but their external needs—what they need from the community—also change.

Stage 1 (1-9 employees) — This includes sole proprietorships, partnerships, lifestyle businesses and startups. The latter group is focused on defining a market, developing a product or service, obtaining capital and finding customers.

Stage 2 (10-99 employees) — At this phase, a company typically has a proven product, and survival is no longer a daily concern. Companies begin to develop infrastructure and standardize operational systems. Leaders delegate more and wear fewer hats.

Stage 3 (100-499 employees) — Expansion is a hallmark at this stage as a company broadens its geographic reach, adds new products and pursues new markets. Stage 3 companies introduce formal processes and procedures, and the founder is less involved in daily operations and more concerned with managing culture and change.

Stage 4 (500 or more employees) — At this level of maturity, an organization dominates its industry and is focused on maintaining and defending its market position. Key objectives are controlling expenses, productivity, global penetration and managing market niches.

U.S. national totals — this is a total of the 50 states (and does not include the Virgin Islands nor Puerto Rico), not a comparison of national and international data.