Published
October 01, 2024
The results are in! The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and CO—, its digital platform for small businesses, have announced the 2024 CO—100, a list of the 100 best and brightest small businesses from across the country.
An esteemed panel of judges narrowed down this year’s pool of over 14,000 applicants from diverse locations, industries, and backgrounds, to find the best 100 representatives of American small business today.
Here’s everything you need to know about this outstanding group of 100 owners, founders, and entrepreneurs.
The 2024 CO— 100 List
This exclusive list recognizes 100 of the best and brightest small and mid-sized businesses across America, celebrated for their remarkable contributions in driving innovation, growth, and ingenuity both locally and globally.
The CO—100: By the Numbers
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31
States represented by the CO—100, plus Washington, D.C.
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13
Number of honorees from California
The CO—100 list includes digital innovators, customer champions, growth accelerators, disruptors, and global stars located in 31 states and Washington, D.C. California has the most small businesses on the list with 13 honorees, followed by New York, Florida, Georgia and Ohio.
The CO—100 come from many different backgrounds, reflecting the diversity of the American business community. This year, over half (57%) of the honorees are women-owned and 42% of the honorees identify as minority-owned.
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16
Industries represented by the 2024 CO—100
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50+
Local area chambers of commerce represented
The list also includes businesses owned by immigrants, veterans, young entrepreneurs, and those who identify as LGBTQ+.
The CO—100 also represents a wide range of industries. Retailers and consumer goods, manufacturing and industrial businesses, and technology and software companies are the top sectors represented in the CO—100.
Across the various industries, over half of the 2024 honorees are family-owned businesses (55%). Nearly half (48%) say their business is green/sustainable and many operate in an urban area (47%) versus 19% who operate in a rural area.
The CO—100 businesses vary in size, but most are very small businesses. In fact, 78% of the CO—100 firms have less than 50 full-time employees. Just one business on the list employs more than 250 people.
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5,000+
Number of people employed by the 2024 CO—100
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92%
Planning to hire more this calendar year
Despite being small in size, these companies do big business. More than half of the honorees (64%) generated $1 million or more in revenue last year.
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$400M
Amount generated by the 2024 CO— 100 in annual revenue
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95%
Anticipate additional growth this year
Optimism for the future abounds from this group of small business all-stars: Across all ten CO—100 categories, the vast majority of the honorees are optimistic about the future and looking to add team members.
Overall, almost all honorees (95%) say they feel optimistic about the future and almost as many (92%) say they are looking to hire. In fact, all businesses in the Community Champions, Customer Champions, Disruptors, and Enduring Businesses categories say they are hiring this year. Those categories are also among the most optimistic about the future.
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54%
Members of their local chamber of commerce
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64%
Generated $1M or more in revenue in 2023
The CO—100 businesses shine through their inspiring ideas and the ways they overcome challenges, enrich community impact, foster vibrant company cultures, and engage customers. They are passionate about improving communities, and more than half (54%) are members of their local chambers of commerce.
On October 8, the CO—100 will be celebrated at a premier event at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's historic headquarters in Washington, D.C., where they will participate in a VIP experience and have access to some of the most influential names in business through the CO—100 Small Business Forum.
At an evening awards dinner, 10 Top Businesses will be recognized for outstanding achievement across 10 categories of excellence and receive $2,000 each. One overall CO—100 Top Business will receive $25,000.
Check out the complete list of honorees here.
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About the authors
Thaddeus Swanek
Thaddeus is a senior writer and editor with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's strategic communications team.
