Small Business Credit Card Trends Report

Report Overview

Small business credit card payment value will reach $1.06 trillion in 2026, up an average of 9.5% annually since 2020

Key Themes Covered in this Report:

• Small business credit cards account for a significant amount of commercial spending
• Small business credit cards as problem solvers for cash flow and liquidity challenges
• Small business credit cards help extend the business relationship

This report covers the US market for small business credit cards. The report does the following:

• Assesses the small business credit card target market, by identifying and trending small business participants (owners, self-employed, etc.); employment and firm size; business challenges; and use of credit (trade credit, loans, and credit cards)
• Sizes the small business universe by employee size, firm status, self-employment status, and industry vertical
• Sizes and forecasts general-purpose small business credit card payment value
• Estimates both small business revenue and expenditures, segmented by business revenue size, including businesses with less than $1 million in revenue; and identifies the share of small business expenses captured by credit cards
• Provides insight on small business purchasing decision-makers’ buying habits across key product and services categories
• Identifies key small business credit card challenges and innovations
• Identifies, sizes, and trends key small business credit card prospects by job title and company affiliation; examples include business owner, upper management, and business purchasers; demographic analysis focuses on income, net worth, and generation
• Sizes and trends small business credit card use, by network affiliation and prospects by job title and company affiliation; demographic analysis focuses on income, net worth, and generation
• Frames small business credit card usage against usage of other key small business products and services, such as business checking accounts, small business loans, and other small business banking services:
  • This includes assessing usage among key small business groups, such as owners, upper management, general management, and the self-employed. It also includes assessing where these small business participants primarily bank, obtain their credit cards, and other banking services.
• Assesses the influence credit cards have on business spending, identifying the share of key prospects without business cards who use cards for business purposes

Throughout the report, many trends are assessed back to 2019, using proprietary data or government/other data shaped by expert analyst input.

Leading Companies Driving Trends in the Small Business Credit Card Trends

Small Business Fast Facts

Number and Type of Small Businesses

• There are more than 36 million small businesses in the United States, according to the US Small Business Administration (SBA). For the purposes of analysis in this report, Packaged Facts uses small business estimates derived from the MRI-Simmons survey, which allows for cross-tabbing small business data in a variety of ways.
• A small business is generally defined as an independent business with fewer than 500 employees. However, financial institutions more generally segment small businesses by revenue. Packaged Facts uses a threshold of $20 million in company revenue for its small business revenue and expenditures estimates.
• Between 1998 and 2022, US small business employment grew by 13.1%, reaching 62.3 million employees in 2022 (SBA).

Types of Small Business Employees

For this report, Packaged Facts has used survey data to size the small business employee population by key roles, job titles, and company affiliations. These include:

• small business owners
• small business managers (segmented into upper management and general management)
• the self-employed
• small business purchasers

These key stakeholders have the authority to make major business decisions, including budgeting and purchasing responsibilities, and the ability to delegate them. As such, they make prime small business credit card targets.

Small Business Credit Card Trends Report Scope

This report covers the US market for small business credit cards. The report does the following:

• Assesses the small business credit card target market, by identifying and trending small business participants (owners, self-employed, etc.); employment and firm size; business challenges; and use of credit (trade credit, loans, and credit cards)
• Sizes the small business universe by employee size, firm status, self-employment status, and industry vertical
• Sizes and forecasts general-purpose small business credit card payment value
• Estimates both small business revenue and expenditures, segmented by business revenue size, including businesses with less than $1 million in revenue; and identifies the share of small business expenses captured by credit cards
• Provides insight on small business purchasing decision-makers’ buying habits across key product and services categories
• Identifies key small business credit card challenges and innovations
• Identifies, sizes, and trends key small business credit card prospects by job title and company affiliation; examples include business owner, upper management, and business purchasers; demographic analysis focuses on income, net worth, and generation
• Sizes and trends small business credit card use, by network affiliation and prospects by job title and company affiliation; demographic analysis focuses on income, net worth, and generation
• Frames small business credit card usage against usage of other key small business products and services, such as business checking accounts, small business loans, and other small business banking services:
  • This includes assessing usage among key small business groups, such as owners, upper management, general management, and the self-employed. It also includes assessing where these small business participants primarily bank, obtain their credit cards, and other banking services.
• Assesses the influence credit cards have on business spending, identifying the share of key prospects without business cards who use cards for business purposes

Throughout the report, many trends are assessed back to 2019, using proprietary data or government/other data shaped by expert analyst input.