Mapping Black-owned businesses in public records across the U.S.
Where do public programs list Black-owned businesses, and where are the gaps? Which industries do they work in, and how does that change over time?
The Research Table brings certification records from state, city and transportation programs into one panel, so researchers, journalists and policymakers can see both what is there and what is missing. Contact details are withheld from the public download and released to verified researchers on request.
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The table follows the filters in the map panel. Each row is one firm; the Expanded view adds address, certification status, description and the programs that list it. Contact fields (owner name, phone, email) are not in the public download; they are released to verified researchers on request, for research use only. Write to data@blackbusinessresearchtable.com with your affiliation and purpose; we respond within 10 business days.
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Programs publish listings, and many firms appear in more than one program or twice in one. The main file merges listings with the same normalized name and ZIP (or name, city and state where a program publishes no ZIP) into one firm and records which programs list it. Similar but different names are not merged; they are written to a review file. A firm that changed its name or ZIP can still appear twice. Every listing is kept in the listings file.
A lapsed certification shows that a program no longer lists a firm, not that the business closed. Formerly certified firms stay in the data, flagged in certification_status, and are left out of the headline count. A business that has been recorded is never removed.
Public certification records over-represent firms that sell to governments and under-represent informal, home-based and online-only businesses. States with no program here are gaps, not evidence that no Black-owned businesses exist there.
| Program | Covers | Type | Listings | Last observed | Refresh status |
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Public programs miss many firms. Tell us about one and we will check it against public sources before anything is added. Nothing you submit is published automatically, and we do not publish your email.
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The current snapshot is free to download above. To receive the full longitudinal panel (every quarterly snapshot in a DuckDB database), tell us who you are and how you will use it.
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↓ DuckDB research panel ↓ Current snapshot CSVStart with a question, for example: where do public programs list Black-owned construction firms near me?
Search a city, ZIP or address to zoom in, or click a county.
Shade counties by number of listed firms, or switch to individual firms.
Filter by certification, program type, state or industry. The table below follows.
A light county means few firms are listed, not that few exist. Check the legend for places with no program yet.