Skip to content

Friday, Dec. 2, 2022

Does two-thirds of every dollar spent at a small business stay in a local community?

Hope Karnopp, Wisconsin Watch
yes

A 2018 study commissioned by American Express found that an “average two-thirds of every dollar (67 cents) spent at small businesses in the U.S. stays in the local community.”

American Express, the credit card company that founded Small Business Saturday, and the National Federation of Independent Businesses have conducted research on the economic impacts of shopping locally.

Researchers calculated the share of the national Gross Domestic Product that small businesses contribute to the economy and “estimated how much of each dollar spent at the average small business remains in their local community.”

Businesses, government officials and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have used the estimate to promote shopping locally, especially during the winter holidays.

In Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers proclaimed Nov. 26 — Small Business Saturday — through Dec. 31 as “Shop Small Wisconsin” days, noting that nearly half of Wisconsin employees work for small businesses. 

See a full discussion of this at Wisconsin Watch

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

About fact briefs

Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.

See all fact briefs

Wisconsin Watch, the news arm of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, increases the quality and quantity of investigative reporting in Wisconsin, while training current and future investigative journalists. Its work fosters an informed citizenry and strengthens democracy.

Learn More

Latest Fact Briefs

Be a Friend of facts

Help us fund more great fact briefs like this one.