Small businesses are a central part of Guam’s economy. The U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2025 Guam profile counted 2,854 small businesses with employees in 2022, representing 96.8% of employers. Those businesses employed 40,012 people, or 74.2% of Guam’s employees. The broader 2022 establishment data also show a local economy shaped by accommodation and food services, retail trade, construction, health care, and other service industries.
Contents
- The size of Guam’s small business sector
- Employment and establishments
- Industry-by-industry business activity
- Payroll across major industries
- Business lending in 2023
- Business applications from 2005 to 2008
The size of Guam’s small business sector
The most direct measure of Guam’s small business presence comes from the SBA 2025 Guam profile. In 2022, Guam had 2,854 small businesses with employees. They made up 96.8% of all employers, leaving only a small share of employers outside the SBA’s small-business count.
Small businesses also represented a substantial share of the workforce. They employed 40,012 people in 2022, equal to 74.2% of Guam employees. That means the small-business sector was important not only because of the number of businesses, but also because of the number of jobs connected to those employers.
The two percentages describe different parts of the same local business structure. The 96.8% figure measures the share of employers classified as small businesses, while the 74.2% figure measures their share of employment. Together, they show that small employers were nearly universal by employer count and represented nearly three-quarters of employment in Guam in 2022.
The SBA figures use the term “small businesses with employees.” That scope matters: the count is not a claim about every business owner, independent worker, or business without employees. It is a measure of employer businesses and their employees for the stated year.
Employment and establishments
The SBA 2024 Guam profile recorded 3,477 business establishments and 53,941 business employees in 2022. These totals provide a broader establishment-based view than the small-business profile. An establishment is a business location or operating unit in the profile’s data, so the establishment total should be read as a count of locations or units rather than a count of owners.
The same profile divides employment by establishment size. Establishments with fewer than 20 employees accounted for 29.2% of employment in Guam in 2022. Establishments with 20 to 99 employees accounted for another 37.1%. Those two size groups together represented 66.3% of employment, based on the two reported shares.
The supplied profile reports total employment rising 8.2% from 2021 to 2022. The year-to-year comparison follows a severe earlier decline in the available historical figures. The SBA 2023 Guam profile counted 3,353 business establishments and 49,876 business employees in 2021, and reported that employment fell 18.4% from 2020 to 2021.
These measurements should be kept in their original time frames. The 2021 count, the 2021-to-2022 increase, and the 2020-to-2021 decrease describe different annual comparisons; they do not by themselves establish a longer-term trend beyond the periods named in the SBA profiles.
| Measure | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Business establishments | 3,353 | 3,477 |
| Business employees | 49,876 | 53,941 |
| Total employment change reported by SBA | — | 8.2% increase from 2021 |
Source labels: [SBA 2023 Guam profile] and [SBA 2024 Guam profile]. The table presents the reported counts for each profile year; the 8.2% figure is the reported change, not a recalculation.
Industry-by-industry business activity
Accommodation and food services was one of Guam’s largest listed industries by employment in 2022. The SBA 2024 Guam profile counted 550 establishments and 11,734 employees in this industry. It reported annual payroll of 219,967 thousand dollars. The employment figure places accommodation and food services above retail trade in the supplied industry data.
Retail trade had 632 establishments and 9,215 employees in 2022. Its annual payroll was 228,266 thousand dollars. Retail therefore had more establishments than accommodation and food services, while the accommodation and food services category had more reported employees.
Construction included 381 establishments and 5,796 employees. The industry’s annual payroll was 229,440 thousand dollars. The establishment count was below retail trade and accommodation and food services, while its reported payroll was higher than both of those categories in the supplied profile.
Health care and social assistance had 219 establishments and 4,965 employees in 2022. The SBA profile reported annual payroll of 239,127 thousand dollars. This was the highest annual payroll among the industries listed in the supplied data, even though its establishment and employment counts were lower than the three large categories above.
Other service and business categories added further breadth. Professional, scientific, and technical services had 244 establishments and 2,338 employees. Administrative, support, and waste management had 159 establishments and 3,672 employees. Real estate and rental and leasing had 272 establishments and 1,873 employees.
The remaining listed categories were wholesale trade, with 217 establishments and 2,937 employees, and finance and insurance, with 117 establishments and 2,067 employees. These figures show that Guam’s business base extends beyond consumer-facing and tourism-related activity into professional, property, administrative, wholesale, and financial services.
Payroll across major industries
Guam’s reported total payroll across all industries was 1,713,400 thousand dollars in 2022, according to the SBA 2024 Guam profile. The profile reports industry payroll in thousands of dollars, so the unit should be preserved when comparing categories.
The listed industry payroll figures were as follows:
| Industry | Establishments | Employees | Annual payroll (thousand dollars) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 219 | 4,965 | 239,127 |
| Construction | 381 | 5,796 | 229,440 |
| Retail trade | 632 | 9,215 | 228,266 |
| Accommodation and food services | 550 | 11,734 | 219,967 |
| Professional, scientific, and technical services | 244 | 2,338 | 114,015 |
| Wholesale trade | 217 | 2,937 | 102,806 |
| Finance and insurance | 117 | 2,067 | 97,643 |
| Administrative, support, and waste management | 159 | 3,672 | 88,310 |
| Real estate and rental and leasing | 272 | 1,873 | 53,652 |
Source label: [SBA 2024 Guam profile]. The table retains the profile’s payroll unit and does not convert or estimate individual wages. It is useful for comparing the reported scale of payroll by industry, but it should not be read as an average-pay ranking because the supplied data do not provide hours worked, occupational mix, or the distribution of employees within each category.
The industry counts also illustrate why establishment totals and employment totals tell different stories. Retail trade had the largest establishment count among the listed categories at 632, while accommodation and food services had the largest employment count at 11,734. Health care and social assistance had the highest listed payroll at 239,127 thousand dollars. Each measure highlights a different aspect of Guam’s business economy.
Business lending in 2023
The SBA 2025 Guam profile reported new lending activity for 2023. Reporting banks issued 21.6 million dollars in loans to Guam businesses with revenues of 1 million dollars or less. This is a revenue-defined group, so it should not be treated as identical to the employer-based small-business count from 2022.
Across Guam businesses, total reported new lending through loans of 1 million dollars or less was 84.0 million dollars in 2023. Within that lending, total reported new lending through loans of 100,000 dollars or less was 23.4 million dollars.
| 2023 lending measure | Reported amount |
|---|---|
| Loans to businesses with revenue of $1 million or less | $21.6 million |
| New lending through loans of $1 million or less | $84.0 million |
| New lending through loans of $100,000 or less | $23.4 million |
Source label: [SBA 2025 Guam profile]. The profile’s measures have different scopes: the first identifies businesses by revenue, while the latter two describe loan-size thresholds. The figures therefore should be reported separately rather than combined into a single lending total.
Business applications from 2005 to 2008
The Census Business Formation Statistics island areas CSV reported annual business applications in Guam for 2005 through 2008. These are application counts for the named years, not counts of established businesses or surviving firms.
In 2005, Guam recorded 481 annual business applications, including 376 annual high-propensity business applications. In 2006, the corresponding figures were 569 applications and 457 high-propensity applications. In 2007, Guam recorded 636 annual business applications and 521 high-propensity applications. In 2008, the figures were 596 annual business applications and 452 high-propensity business applications.
| Year | Annual business applications | Annual high-propensity applications |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 481 | 376 |
| 2006 | 569 | 457 |
| 2007 | 636 | 521 |
| 2008 | 596 | 452 |
Source label: [Census BFS island areas CSV]. Applications reached the highest reported level in this four-year set in 2007, at 636 total applications and 521 high-propensity applications. The 2008 values were lower than the 2007 values but remained above the 2005 counts. Because these figures come from an earlier period than the 2021–2023 SBA measures, they provide historical context rather than a current estimate of Guam’s business formation activity.
For readers comparing Guam’s business environment across sources, the measurement type is essential. Applications describe prospective business formation, establishments describe operating business units, employees describe jobs, and lending describes reported credit activity. The years and definitions differ, so each statistic is most useful when kept with its original source label and measurement period.