COVID-19 Small Business Closures In Tennessee Pegged At 24.4%

Photo Credit: Public Domain

The Center Square –

The share of Tennessee small businesses still closed compared to January 2020, just prior to the onset of the pandemic, stands at 24.4 percent, the sixth lowest percentage among 45 states examined, according to an online data tracker managed by Harvard University.

Nationwide, as of March 22, the number of small businesses in operation was 35 percent below what the level was in January 2020, according to the Opportunity Insights data tracker.

The data also shows that different types of small businesses were not affected in the same way. One of the largest number of shutdowns occurred in the leisure and hospitality sector, in which small businesses suffered closures estimated at 52.4 percent, according to tracker’s numbers.

Data was not available for the states of Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming.

Share of Small Business Closures as of March 22:

Rank	State	% of Small Businesses Still Shut Down Since January 2020
1	Michigan	39.7%
2	Massachusetts	39.1%
3 (tie)	Alaska	38.9%
3 (tie)	Maine	38.9%
5	Colorado	38.8%
6	Connecticut	38.5%
7	New Jersey	36.9%
8 (tie)	Rhode Island	36.5%
8 (tie)	Illinois	36.5%
10	New Mexico	36.2%
11	California	35.9%
12	New York	35.4%
13	Louisiana	33.2%
14	Texas	32.6%
15	Georgia	32.3%
16	Florida	32.2%
17	Oklahoma	31.9%
18	Virginia	31.6%
19	Arizona	31.3%
20	Kansas	31.0%
21	Ohio	30.4%
22	Mississippi	29.7%
23 (tie)	Hawaii	29.5%
23 (tie)	Iowa	29.5%
25	Delaware	29.4%
26	Maryland	29.3%
27 (tie)	Kentucky	29.0%
27 (tie)	Nevada	29.0%
27 (tie)	Wisconsin	29.0%
30	Washington	28.5%
31	Indiana	28.4%
32	Oregon	28.1%
33	Pennsylvania	27.7%
34	South Carolina	27.0%
35	Minnesota	26.6%
36	Alabama	25.9%
37	Missouri	25.8%
38	West Virginia	25.7%
39	North Carolina	25.6%
40	Tennessee	24.4%
41	Utah	23.5%
42	Vermont	23.3%
43	Arkansas	21.9%
44	North Dakota	19.5%
45	New Hampshire	18.3%