Small business owners shared their strategic priorities in the Forbes Research 2025 Small Business … More Survey.
As small business owners begin navigating the second half of the year, they find themselves looking outward at a roiling sea — for a rogue wave in the form of inflation, changing tax codes and tariffs that could throw them off course.
These outside factors are the top financial challenges small businesses expect to face this year, according to the Forbes Research 2025 Small Business Survey, conducted in March and released publicly today. Its findings will be explored in additional articles published throughout the year.
How the U.S.’s estimated 33.2 million small businesses cope with these macro-level forces could shape their growth and profits. And yet, when it comes to the future of their business, the vast majority of respondents, at a greater percentage than last year, are either highly or somewhat confident.
Despite these concerns, small business owners expressed an overwhelmingly optimistic outlook.
The annual survey polled 535 U.S. small business owners across 18 industries about their priorities, challenges and opinions on a range of contemporary issues. It was a snapshot taken when the Trump administration was just rolling out tariffs, and it’s still too early to measure their full impact, with some economists predicting noticeable price increases later this summer.
More Confident Than Last Year
The whopping 94% of respondents who are confident in the future of their business represent a 6% increase compared to last year.
This heightened optimism prevailed even in the wake of President Trump’s announcement — shortly before the survey was fielded — of new tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada as well as a plan for widespread “reciprocal tariffs,” which took effect in April.
A closer look at the survey data reveals a 13 percentage-point increase since last year in those who identified as “highly confident” and decreases in those who said they were neutral, “not very confident” or “not confident at all.”
Only time will tell if small business owners will remain as positive when rising costs and supply chain pressures caused by tariffs begin to bite.
