Jasmine Business Directory

The United States has the largest national economy measured at market prices, and the "Business and Economy" heading inside the United States branch of this directory gathers the organisations, agencies, trade bodies and reference sources that describe how that economy is built and governed. According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (2026), real gross domestic product grew 2.1 percent across 2025, a slowdown from the 2.8 percent recorded in 2024, and consumer spending and private investment accounted for most of the increase. The BEA counts output three ways, which is why early "advance" figures are later revised; the third estimate for a given quarter is the one most analysts treat as settled. That revision cycle matters to anyone using this part of the directory to locate economic institutions, because the bodies that publish the numbers are themselves listed resources worth knowing.

Consumer spending does most of the work. Personal consumption expenditures make up close to seventy percent of American output, far more than in most large economies, which is why retail sales, household confidence and wage growth draw such close attention from analysts and policymakers. When households pull back, the whole economy slows quickly; when they spend, growth tends to hold up even if business investment is soft. The BEA tracks this spending in detail, with a split into goods and services and into durable and nondurable goods, so researchers can see whether growth rests on cars and appliances or on health care, housing and other services. The fact that the consumer leads is the most useful starting point for reading United States economic data.

Composition tells you more than the headline rate. The BEA's value-added accounts show services dominating output, with finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing forming the single largest grouping by value added in 2025, and professional and business services ranking close behind (Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2026). Manufacturing accounted for roughly 9.4 percent of GDP in the fourth quarter of 2025, a smaller share than its public profile suggests, though its value added still ran into the trillions when durable and nondurable output are combined. Chemicals, computer and electronic products, and food, beverages and tobacco are the heaviest manufacturing subsectors. This sectoral spread explains why a business directory covering the United States has to span everything from investment banks to factory trade associations.

The price side of the accounts ran above the Federal Reserve's long-run target through 2025. The price index for gross domestic purchases rose 2.6 percent, and the personal consumption expenditures price index, the gauge the central bank watches most closely, also rose 2.6 percent, with the core measure that strips out food and energy at 2.8 percent (Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2026). Inflation of that order shapes wage talks, lending rates and the cost of doing business, which is why economic data publishers sit alongside firms in this part of the directory. The listings here are chosen because they are useful to people researching how American output, prices and incomes fit together.

Scale also has a geographic shape. A handful of states generate a large slice of national output, and several individual American states would rank among the world's larger economies if measured on their own. That concentration, documented in the BEA's state GDP series, means the national story is really fifty overlapping regional stories. Resources grouped under United States business and economy therefore include national bodies and the state-level chambers, development agencies and statistical offices that track local conditions. Treating the country as one undifferentiated market misses how much variation the data actually shows, a point the regional section returns to in detail.

Money supply and credit add another layer. The dollar is the world's main reserve currency and the unit in which much of global trade and debt is denominated, which gives American monetary policy reach well beyond the country's borders. At home, the banking system, the bond market and a deep equity market channel savings to firms, and the relative size of market-based finance compared with bank lending is one of the features that sets the United States apart from many other advanced economies. These mechanics rarely make headlines, yet they decide how quickly policy changes reach ordinary businesses.

The point of organising these resources under one path is practical. Someone might arrive looking for the agency that sets interest rates, the office that counts new business registrations, or the regulator that polices advertising claims, and a single curated United States business directory lets them move between those without wading through unrelated results. The sections that follow walk through the small-business base, the federal institutions, the regional and labour-market picture, and how to read this part of the business directory itself. Each draws on official statistics rather than estimates, so the figures can be checked against the sources listed at the end.

Small firms are the larger part of what a business directory listing United States companies actually contains. The SBA Office of Advocacy (2025) reported that the country held 36.2 million small businesses, which is 99.9 percent of all United States firms. The great majority, about 29.8 million, are nonemployer businesses with no paid staff, typically sole proprietors and freelancers, while roughly 5.5 million are employer firms with between one and 499 workers. Those proportions matter when browsing or compiling listings, because most entries describe very small operations rather than household-name corporations.

Employment data reinforce the point. The Office of Advocacy found that small businesses employed 62.3 million people, about 45.9 percent of all private-sector workers, and accounted for roughly 43.5 percent of gross domestic product (SBA Office of Advocacy, 2025). Between March 2023 and March 2024 small firms generated close to nine of every ten net new jobs, opening 1.1 million new establishments and adding about 1.2 million jobs on net. Those flows are not steady year to year, but the long pattern is clear: small enterprise is where most hiring and most new business activity happen. Any account of the American economy that ignored this base would misrepresent the system it claims to describe.

New firm creation is tracked separately and in near real time. The U.S. Census Bureau's Business Formation Statistics measure applications for an Employer Identification Number on IRS Form SS-4, then follow which of those applications turn into businesses with payroll (U.S. Census Bureau, 2026). The series separates total applications from "high-propensity" ones judged likely to become employers, and it projects formations several quarters ahead. Projected business formations within four quarters were running near 30,000 a month at the end of 2025 on a seasonally adjusted basis. These indicators let researchers see business creation turning before it shows up in slower annual counts, which is one reason the Census Bureau is a standing entry in any United States business directory.

Application volumes rose sharply in the early 2020s and stayed historically high, a shift that surprised many economists who had expected the pandemic to suppress new firms. Some of that surge reflected people starting online retail and gig-style ventures, and some reflected genuine new employers; the gap between total applications and high-propensity ones is what lets analysts tell the two apart. The pattern also varies by state, with parts of the South and West recording the strongest application growth. For anyone tracking where new businesses are forming, the county-level data the Census Bureau now publishes shows more than national totals alone.

Why so many people start firms in the United States is partly a matter of structure. Registering a business is handled at state level, costs are generally low, and several legal forms, from the sole proprietorship to the limited liability company and the S corporation, are available without heavy upfront filing. The limited liability company in particular spread quickly because it combines liability protection with simple pass-through taxation, and it has become the default vehicle for small ventures in most states. The federal Small Business Administration, created in 1953, adds loan guarantees, counselling and contracting support, and runs targeted outreach to women, minority and veteran owners (SBA Office of Advocacy, 2025).

Financing those firms takes several forms, and the resources in this category reflect that. Community banks and credit unions remain the main source of small-business credit, often using the SBA's 7(a) loan guarantee to lend to firms that would otherwise be turned away. Above them sit angel investors and venture capital, concentrated in a few metro areas and aimed at fast-growing technology startups rather than the typical Main Street business. Online lenders, equipment financiers and, more recently, revenue-based funders fill gaps for firms that fall between those categories. A founder researching options needs to see lenders, guarantee programmes and advisory bodies together rather than scattered.

Survival is the harder part of the story, and honest resources say so. A large share of new establishments close within their first five years, and formation booms do not all convert into lasting employers, which is exactly what the gap between applications and actual payroll formations in the Census data captures. For users, that argues for a business directory that lists United States companies alongside the support agencies, lenders and advisory bodies that help firms last. This category tries to do that, placing operating businesses next to the public and nonprofit organisations that serve them, so the listings are useful to founders, researchers and anyone studying American entrepreneurship.

Trade associations and membership bodies round out the small-business picture. Sector groups, state and local chambers of commerce, and national federations speak for firms in front of regulators and Congress, publish industry data, and run training. Many appear in this part of the business directory because they link individual companies to the policy world described in the next section. Including them gives a fuller view than listing only firms in isolation, since much of economic life runs through these intermediaries as well as through any single enterprise.

A small set of federal bodies sets the rules American business runs on, and they form a core cluster within this category. The Federal Reserve System is the central bank. Its Federal Open Market Committee works to a statutory mandate from Congress of maximum employment and stable prices, and treats 2 percent annual PCE inflation as most consistent with those goals over the long run (Federal Reserve, 2025). The Committee held its policy rate at a target range of 4.25 to 4.50 percent through most of 2025, then cut to 3.50 to 3.75 percent in December as it judged downside risks to employment had risen. Those decisions move borrowing costs for every firm in the country, so the central bank is among the most consulted entries in this part of the directory.

The Federal Reserve is more than the rate-setting committee. It is organised as a Board of Governors in Washington plus twelve regional Reserve Banks, each covering a district and gathering local economic intelligence that feeds into policy and into the well-known Beige Book. The system also supervises many banks, operates core parts of the payments system, and acts as lender of last resort in a crisis. Monetary policy works through a chain, from the policy rate to bank lending rates, asset prices and the exchange rate, and that chain takes months to play out, which is why the Committee watches incoming data so closely before each meeting.

Capital markets have their own regulator. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission oversees the national securities exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market, enforces the federal securities laws, and requires public companies to file regular disclosures such as the quarterly Form 10-Q and the annual Form 10-K. Those filings sit in the EDGAR database, which is itself a heavily used reference for anyone studying United States companies. The Nasdaq market alone carried thousands of listings and a combined United States market value in the tens of trillions of dollars during 2025 (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 2025). For that reason a business directory listing United States companies almost always points to both the SEC and the exchanges it supervises.

The disclosure system is one of the central features of American capital markets. The principle, set out in the securities laws of the 1930s, is that investors should have access to accurate, timely information and can then judge risk for themselves, rather than relying on a regulator to vet investments. Independent auditors, oversight of accounting standards, and rules on insider trading and market manipulation all support that principle. The depth and liquidity of the resulting markets are a large part of why American firms can raise capital at scale and why foreign companies often choose to list in the United States.

Competition and consumer protection fall to the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC's two jobs are protecting competition and protecting consumers, and it acts against unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices affecting commerce (Federal Trade Commission, 2025). It investigates reports from the public and from businesses, challenges false advertising and fraud, reviews mergers, and can seek injunctions, restitution and, in some cases, civil penalties. Antitrust enforcement is shared with the Department of Justice, and between them the two agencies decide which large mergers proceed. For listed firms, the FTC's business-guidance material is a practical reference on advertising, data and marketing rules.

Tax administration shapes day-to-day operations more than any other single function. The Internal Revenue Service collects federal taxes and issues the Employer Identification Number that the Census Bureau uses to detect new business formation, which ties the tax system directly to the startup statistics described earlier. Businesses interact with the IRS over payroll taxes, corporate and pass-through filings, and a steady flow of guidance, so its small-business pages are among the most visited public resources for American firms. Most small businesses pay tax through their owners' individual returns rather than the corporate system, which is why changes to individual tax rates affect Main Street as much as changes to the corporate rate.

Fiscal policy runs in parallel with all of this. Federal spending, taxation and borrowing are set by Congress and the President through the annual budget and appropriations process, with the Treasury managing the government's cash and issuing the debt that funds any shortfall. Treasury securities are the benchmark for interest rates across the economy and the asset the rest of the financial system treats as risk-free, so the size and cost of federal borrowing reach far beyond Washington. The Congressional Budget Office and the Office of Management and Budget publish the projections that frame these debates, and both are useful reference points for anyone trying to understand where tax and spending policy is heading. Because fiscal and monetary policy can pull in the same direction or against each other, reading them together is part of making sense of the wider economy.

Several other agencies complete the federal layer relevant to commerce. The Department of Commerce houses the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Census Bureau, the two statistical engines behind most figures in this description, and promotes trade and investment. The Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics produces the employment and inflation data that markets watch each month. Sector regulators such as the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and the banking supervisors add industry-specific rules on top of these general ones. Together these bodies make the United States one of the most heavily documented economies anywhere, and they sit near the top of the listings here because nearly every other resource on the page connects back to them.

The national totals hide wide regional variation, and a useful United States business directory has to reflect it. The BEA's state accounts show California as the largest state economy at about 4.25 trillion dollars in 2025, followed by Texas near 2.9 trillion and New York around 2.47 trillion; together those three produced more than 31 percent of national GDP (Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2026). California on its own ranks among the world's largest economies, and both Texas and New York would place inside the global top fifteen if treated as countries. That concentration is why state development agencies, regional chambers and metro-area statistical offices appear throughout the listings in this section.

Each large state leans on a different industry mix. California combines technology, entertainment, agriculture and trade through its Pacific ports; Texas pairs energy with a fast-growing technology and services base; New York is anchored by finance and professional services. Smaller states often specialise more sharply still, in farming, tourism, logistics or single manufacturing clusters, and several mountain and plains states have grown quickly as firms and workers moved toward lower costs. For users, this means a national search is rarely enough, and a business directory that lists United States companies by state or region lets researchers match a firm or agency to the local economy it operates in.

Cities carry as much weight as states. A large majority of American output is produced in metropolitan areas, and a handful of metros, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Washington and the San Francisco Bay Area among them, account for a striking share of national activity. Each has its own specialisation: finance and media in New York, government and contracting around Washington, energy in Houston, technology in the Bay Area and increasingly in Austin. Metro-level chambers of commerce and economic development offices are often the most practical contact for a firm choosing where to locate, which is why they feature alongside national bodies in this part of the directory.

Labour-market data give the clearest read on regional and national health, and they come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Across 2025 hiring was unusually weak: the BLS reported that the economy added only about 584,000 jobs over the year, the slowest annual growth since 2003 outside the recession years of 2008, 2009 and 2020, an average of roughly 15,000 jobs a month (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026). The unemployment rate drifted up toward the mid-4 percent range late in the year. Because these monthly releases move markets and policy, the BLS is a standing reference for anyone studying the American economy, and its state-level series show which regions carried the slowdown.

Behind the headline jobs number sit several measures worth separating. The unemployment rate counts only people actively looking for work, so the labour force participation rate, the share of adults working or seeking work, often tells a fuller story, particularly as the population ages and more workers retire. Average hourly earnings track wage pressure, and the BLS also publishes the Consumer Price Index, the most widely cited inflation gauge and the one used to adjust Social Security payments and many contracts. Reading these together, rather than fixating on a single figure, is what separates careful analysis from headline reaction.

External trade ties the domestic economy to the rest of the world, and the figures are large. The U.S. Census Bureau and the BEA reported total United States exports of 3,432.3 billion dollars and imports of 4,333.8 billion dollars in 2025, leaving a goods and services deficit of 901.5 billion dollars, down only marginally from 2024 (U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2026). Goods exports rose to about 2,197.5 billion dollars, led by capital goods and industrial supplies, while services exports reached 1,234.9 billion dollars. The services surplus partly offsets a larger goods deficit, a structure that reflects American strength in software, finance, education and other intangible exports.

Some sectors are tied to particular regions in ways the national figures obscure. Energy production is concentrated in Texas and a band of states across the Great Plains and the Gulf, and the shale boom turned the United States into one of the world's leading producers of both oil and natural gas. Agriculture, though a small share of GDP, dominates the economy of the Midwest farm belt and parts of California's Central Valley, and it accounts for a meaningful slice of exports. Technology clusters in the Bay Area, Seattle and Austin; entertainment in Los Angeles; pharmaceuticals and finance along the Northeast corridor. A directory that lists the trade bodies and development offices tied to these clusters helps a user see the economy as a set of specialised places rather than a single average.

Trade has a clear geography too. Canada, Mexico and China are the country's largest trading partners, and the North American supply chains built up over decades mean that goods often cross the borders several times before a finished product is sold. Major seaports on the Pacific and Gulf coasts, the air-cargo hubs, and the road and rail networks that link them are part of the economic infrastructure that trade depends on. Export-assistance bodies, port authorities and trade associations therefore feature in this category, because for many firms the practical question is not whether to trade but how to handle customs, logistics and foreign payment.

The regional, labour and trade threads together explain the directory's structure. A founder in Texas, an investor studying New York finance, and a researcher tracking national hiring all need different resources, yet all sit under United States business and economy. Listing national statistical agencies next to state development offices and trade bodies lets each user start broad and narrow down, or the reverse. The selection is deliberately weighted toward sources that publish checkable data, which is why the references below are public statistical releases rather than commentary.

This page collects listings and reference material grouped under "Business and Economy" within the United States section of the directory, and it is built for orientation rather than persuasion. The entries fall into a few recognisable types: federal agencies such as the Federal Reserve, the SEC, the FTC and the IRS; statistical publishers including the BEA, the Census Bureau and the BLS; state and regional development bodies; industry associations and chambers of commerce; and operating companies across the main sectors. Reading the earlier sections first makes the listings easier to follow, because each one slots into the small-business base, the federal framework, or the regional and trade picture already described. A curated United States business directory organised this way is meant to shorten the path from a question to a credible source.

A few habits help when working from this category. Prefer primary statistical releases over summaries when a number matters, and note the reference period, since GDP and trade figures are revised and a quarterly estimate can change between its advance and final versions. Check whether a figure is seasonally adjusted, because monthly business-formation and employment series usually are. Watch the unit, too, since trillions and billions are easy to confuse and percentage points are not the same as percent changes. Where this description gives data, the originating agency is named so the value can be confirmed at source.

It also helps to keep official statistics separate from commentary built on top of them. Government agencies publish the raw measures; think tanks, banks and the financial press then interpret them, and the same data point can support several readings. A finding aid like this one is most useful when it leads to the primary record rather than to a single interpretation of it, which is why the listings lean toward statistical agencies and regulators. Used carefully, a business directory that lists United States companies and institutions is a starting point for research, not a substitute for the underlying official data.

Listings are reviewed for relevance to the United States business and economy category rather than accepted automatically, so the page aims to stay a focused web directory for the topic rather than an open link dump. Suggestions for additional agencies, statistical resources, regional bodies or established firms are welcome through the directory's submission process, and the editorial preference is for sources that are authoritative, current and openly accessible. The references below point to the public statistical and regulatory releases drawn on above.

For questions about this category, corrections to a listing, or to propose a new entry, please use the contact and "submit a listing" links provided elsewhere on the Jasmine Directory site. The editorial team monitors those channels and updates entries as the official data and institutions change, since agencies reorganise, statistical series are revised, and firms open and close. Keeping this corner of the web directory accurate is an ongoing task, and feedback from people who use the listed sources directly is the most reliable way to catch what has moved.

1. Bureau of Economic Analysis. (2026). Gross Domestic Product (Third Estimate), Fourth Quarter and Year 2025; GDP by Industry; and State GDP. U.S. Department of Commerce
2. SBA Office of Advocacy. (2025). 2025 Small Business Profile, United States. U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy
3. U.S. Census Bureau. (2026). Business Formation Statistics. U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau
4. Federal Reserve. (2025). Federal Open Market Committee Statement, December 9 to 10, 2025. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
5. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. (2025). What We Do; EDGAR Company Filings (Forms 10-Q and 10-K). U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
6. Federal Trade Commission. (2025). What the FTC Does; A Brief Overview of the Federal Trade Commission's Investigative, Law Enforcement, and Rulemaking Authority. Federal Trade Commission
7. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2026). The Employment Situation. U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
8. U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis. (2026). U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, December and Annual 2025. U.S. Department of Commerce