Top Industries With the Best Startup Survival Rates After 1–5 Years
How Establishment Survival Changes Across U.S. Industries
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting had the highest five-year business establishment survival rate among the 19 broad private-sector industry categories in the Bureau of Labor Statistics March 2013 cohort. In March 2018, 66.2% of establishments in that category remained active, compared with 50.6% for the private sector overall.
The five-year rate is the share of establishments assigned to the March 2013 BLS birth cohort that remained active in the March 2018 cohort table. The ranking uses that five-year value, while the one-year and three-year figures show how the same cohort changed earlier in its life cycle.
These are establishment-level statistics rather than survival probabilities for companies, founders or venture-backed startups. Data checked: July 16, 2026.
Agriculture ranked first at 66.2%, followed by real estate and rental and leasing at 58.7%, retail trade at 58.3% and manufacturing at 57.7%. Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction ranked nineteenth at 40.2%.
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting.
Twelve industries were above the benchmark and seven were below it.
Broad private-sector categories in the BLS cohort table.
The same cohort is also available through March 2023.
What the Business Establishment Survival Rate Measures
How BLS assigns establishment age
BLS establishment age and survival data are built from Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages records. The methodology uses the date of first positive employment and related rules for identifying births, including the treatment of establishments that return after extended periods of zero employment.
How to read a survival rate
A five-year rate of 58.3% means that 58.3% of the establishments assigned to that industry’s March 2013 birth cohort remained active in the March 2018 cohort table.
Establishment versus firm
An establishment is an operating location where business activity takes place. A firm may operate one establishment or several locations, so establishment survival is not identical to firm or company survival.
What the ranking does not measure
Remaining active does not prove that an establishment was profitable or growing. The dataset does not report revenue, owner income, valuation, debt, financing success or productivity.
Private-sector five-year benchmark
50.6%Twelve of the 19 industry categories retained a larger share of their March 2013 cohort than the private sector overall. Seven finished below the benchmark. The aggregate is shown for comparison and is not ranked as an additional industry.
Industries With the Highest Five-Year Survival Rates
The five highest rates are shown below as a compact summary. The full table contains all 19 categories and the earlier one-year and three-year observations.
Five-Year Business Establishment Survival by Industry
The chart uses the same five-year values as the main ranking. Agriculture was the only category above 60%, while twelve industries finished above the 50.6% private-sector benchmark.
Full Ranking of 19 Private-Sector Industry Categories
Rank is determined by the five-year survival rate. The earlier column combines the one-year and three-year observations, while the final column shows the decline between year one and year five.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Business Employment Dynamics. Cohort birth date: March 2013. Five-year observation: March 2018. The survival percentages are BLS values; the percentage-point decline is calculated from the one-year and five-year figures.
Showing 19 of 19 industries.
Business establishment survival after one, three and five years
| Rank | Industry | 5-year rate | 1 year / 3 years | 1–5 year decline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting | 66.2% | 87.5% / 75.7% | 21.3 pp |
| 2 | Real estate and rental and leasing | 58.7% | 83.9% / 69.4% | 25.2 pp |
| 3 | Retail trade | 58.3% | 84.2% / 68.8% | 25.9 pp |
| 4 | Manufacturing | 57.7% | 82.6% / 67.4% | 24.9 pp |
| 5 | Other services, except public administration | 56.9% | 82.5% / 67.1% | 25.6 pp |
| 6 | Utilities | 56.6% | 80.7% / 65.8% | 24.1 pp |
| 7 | Educational services | 56.0% | 81.8% / 65.9% | 25.8 pp |
| 8 | Accommodation and food services | 55.3% | 82.5% / 65.6% | 27.2 pp |
| 9 | Health care and social assistance | 55.1% | 82.7% / 66.0% | 27.6 pp |
| 10 | Construction | 53.9% | 76.0% / 62.8% | 22.1 pp |
| 11 | Finance and insurance | 53.2% | 80.9% / 64.2% | 27.7 pp |
| 12 | Arts, entertainment, and recreation | 52.9% | 80.6% / 63.8% | 27.7 pp |
| 13 | Management of companies and enterprises | 50.3% | 81.4% / 62.1% | 31.1 pp |
| 14 | Transportation and warehousing | 50.1% | 79.4% / 61.4% | 29.3 pp |
| 15 | Administrative and waste services | 48.9% | 76.9% / 60.1% | 28.0 pp |
| 16 | Wholesale trade | 46.5% | 78.2% / 58.3% | 31.7 pp |
| 17 | Professional, scientific, and technical services | 46.3% | 77.0% / 57.8% | 30.7 pp |
| 18 | Information | 44.3% | 74.9% / 55.7% | 30.6 pp |
| 19 | Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction | 40.2% | 79.4% / 50.6% | 39.2 pp |
What Changed Between the First and Fifth Year
Early and later declines differed
In every listed industry, the drop between the first-year and third-year observations was larger than the drop between years three and five. This describes the cohort pattern but does not identify why establishments stopped operating.
Agriculture remained first
Agriculture ranked first after one, three and five years. Its survival rate declined by 11.8 percentage points between years one and three and by another 9.5 points between years three and five.
Construction improved its relative position
Construction ranked eighteenth after one year, twelfth after three years and tenth after five years. Its total decline of 22.1 percentage points was smaller than in every category except agriculture.
Mining recorded the largest decline
Mining was tied for thirteenth by the one-year value but ranked nineteenth after three and five years. Its survival rate fell by 39.2 percentage points between the first and fifth year.
Largest first-to-fifth-year declines
A decline of 39.2 percentage points means that the rate moved from 79.4% after one year to 40.2% after five years. It is a difference between two survival observations, not a separate BLS indicator.
Methodology, Interpretation and Limitations
The source is the Bureau of Labor Statistics Business Employment Dynamics establishment age and survival dataset, built from Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages records. BLS applies date-of-first-positive-employment rules and related birth-identification procedures to assign establishments to annual cohorts.
The March 2013 cohort was selected because BLS published an accessible industry series that can be followed through ten years. It is not the only cohort available. This page uses the March 2018 observation as the ranking point because five years provides a consistent medium-term comparison while the one-year and three-year values show the earlier path of the same cohort.
Ranking metric
Industries are ranked by the percentage of their March 2013 establishment cohort remaining active in March 2018. Higher percentages receive better ranks.
Source and calculations
The one-year, three-year, five-year and 50.6% private-sector values come from BLS. The first-to-fifth-year decline is calculated by subtracting the five-year rate from the one-year rate.
Coverage
The ranking includes the 19 broad private-sector industry categories shown in the source table. The total private sector is used as a benchmark rather than ranked alongside its component industries.
Longer-term context
BLS followed the same March 2013 cohort through March 2023. At ten years, 34.7% of the total private-sector cohort remained active. Those later values are not mixed into this five-year ranking.
The ordering describes one historical cohort and is not a permanent ranking of industries. Survival can differ across birth years, locations, economic cycles and the mix of establishments entering each category.
The data show observed differences but do not isolate their causes. Capital requirements, market structure, business-cycle exposure, establishment size, location and entrant composition may matter, but this table alone cannot determine their individual effects.
Broad categories also contain diverse business activities. “Information,” for example, includes several distinct operating models, while “agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting” combines multiple types of establishments. The figures should therefore not be treated as precise forecasts for a narrow business niche.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which industry had the highest five-year establishment survival rate?
Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting ranked first at 66.2% for the March 2013 cohort observed in March 2018.
What was the private-sector five-year benchmark?
The total private-sector rate was 50.6%. Twelve industry categories were above that benchmark and seven were below it.
Are these company survival rates?
No. They are establishment survival rates. An establishment is an operating location, while one firm may operate one or several establishments.
How does BLS assign an establishment to a birth cohort?
BLS uses Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages records, date-of-first-positive-employment rules and related procedures for identifying establishment births and returns after extended periods of zero employment.
Why does this ranking use five years?
Five years provides a medium-term comparison for the same March 2013 cohort. One-year and three-year figures are included as earlier observations, while the available ten-year data are kept separate.
Can the ranking predict whether a business opening now will survive?
No. It describes establishments assigned to one historical cohort. A current business faces different market, financial, technological and regulatory conditions.
Sources
BLS establishment survival chart and data
Main numeric source for the March 2013 private-sector cohort and industry survival values through March 2023.
BLS Establishment Age and Survival Data
Official access page for establishment age and survival tables by opening year and major industry.
BLS methodology and concepts
Definitions and methodological guidance for establishment births, deaths, age and survival.
