Small businesses — very small businesses, actually — sprouted up all over Alabama during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in some rural counties. Those microbusinesses — firms with 10 or fewer employees — are a big part of the Alabama economy:
Data from GoDaddy shows Alabama added nearly 12,000 of these microbusinesses from March 2020 - just before the pandemic began - to December of 2022. That was an 8% increase during that time, bringing the state’s total to 157,000. The nation as a whole saw a similar trend, according to the data.
It’s no accident that a handful of rural counties led the state in small business growth. According to Black, this kind of entrepreneurship will be vital for Alabama’s rural areas going forward. “The amount of money needed to start one of these small businesses is pretty small, but the money they can bring in is significant,” she said. “That’s important. People spend that money in our economy.”
Still, some 37% of respondents said these microbusinesses were their main source of income, and a fifth of those said they make more than $7,000 per month, or more than $84,000 per year. Baldwin County, one of the fastest-growing counties in Alabama, led the state with 8.3 microbusinesses for every 100 adults. According to GoDaddy, each single microbusiness per 100 adults in an area adds nearly $200 to that area’s median household income.Home to Alabama’s beaches, Baldwin County is a popular retirement destination, and Black said many of these retirees may have finished one career, but that doesn’t mean they’re done working.
One is that a surge of cash from stimulus payments may have been enough to get some burgeoning businesses off the ground. But there are other factors at play, Black said.
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