The COVID-19 crisis will disproportionately affect minority-owned small businesses

Visual form

Stacked Bar / Stacked Column: financial-health distribution by small-business ownership group.

Layout / body structure

Each ownership group is represented by one stacked vertical column. The segments divide firms into distressed, at risk, stable, and healthy, so the reader compares the full financial-health mix for each group on the same percentage scale.

What is being compared

It compares pre-crisis financial health for small firms owned by non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Asian, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic Black owners. The focus is the share of firms in weaker versus stronger financial-health categories before COVID-19 hit.

Measurement system

The columns are measured as percent of companies. Each stacked segment reports the share of firms in one financial-health category, and each ownership-group column sums to the full firm population for that group.

Visible structure inside the graphic

Hispanic-owned and Black-owned firms have much larger lower segments for distressed and at-risk status. White-owned firms have a much larger stable and healthy share, making the pre-crisis resilience gap visible.

Main takeaway from the visual

The chart shows that minority-owned small businesses entered the COVID-19 crisis with weaker financial-health profiles. That made the same external shock more damaging for groups that already had more firms classified as distressed or at risk.

Key standout values or extremes

Black-owned firms show 20 percent distressed and 37 percent at risk, while Hispanic-owned firms show 18 percent distressed and 31 percent at risk. White-owned firms show 5 percent distressed and 22 percent at risk.

Controls / sequence, when applicable

This is a static stacked-column chart; there are no in-chart controls to operate.

Companion media, when applicable

There is no separate companion audio or video; the stacked-column chart is the full visual on this page.