Small business sentiment stable but cash flow concerns continue to rise
Washington, DC, July 17, 2026 — The Q2 2026 U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Index is 66.5, largely stable from last quarter’s Index score of 67.0, and slightly ahead of its reading from this time last year (65.2). Though business health continues to show stability, business owners are showing signs of increased trepidation towards the business environment and cash flow. Compared to last quarter, more small businesses view the national and their local economies as very poor, and fewer are very comfortable with their cash flow.
Slightly more small businesses plan to increase their staff and expect to increase revenue in the next year. However, plans to increase investment have not followed suit. In this vein, concerns about inflation continue to rise, as nearly three in five cite it as the biggest challenge facing small businesses.
For more information about this study, please click here.
About the Study
These are the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between May 19th to June 4th, 2026. For this survey, a sample of 750 small business owners and operators age 18+ from the continental U.S. Alaska and Hawaii was interviewed online in English.
The sample was randomly drawn from partner online panel sources that specialize in B2B sample and does not rely on a population frame in the traditional sense. Ipsos uses fixed sample targets, unique to the study, in drawing sample. Small businesses are defined in this study as companies with 500 or fewer employees that are not sole proprietorships. This sample calibrates respondent characteristics to be representative of the U.S. small business population using standard procedures such as raking-ratio adjustments. The sample drawn for this study reflects fixed sample targets on firmographics. Post-hoc weights were made to the population characteristics on region, industry sector and size of business. The source of these population targets is U.S. Census 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses dataset. Additional post-hoc weights were made to the population characteristics on the gender of the business’s owner and whether the business is minority-owned or not. The source of these two weight variables is the Small Business Administration’s 2025 Small Business Profiles.
Statistical margins of error are not applicable to online non-probability polls. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error and measurement error. Where figures do not sum to 100, this is due to the effects of rounding. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll has a credibility interval of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points for all respondents. Ipsos calculates a design effect (DEFF) for each study based on the variation of the weights, following the formula of Kish (1965). This study had a credibility interval adjusted for design effect of the following (n=750, DEFF=1.5, adjusted Confidence Interval=+/-5.9 percentage points).
Starting with the March 2020 survey, small business decision makers are reached via an online survey, in place of the typical phone-based approach. This methodological shift is in response to lower anticipated response rates in dialing owners at their businesses as a result of mandated closures related to the COVID-19 outbreak. While significant changes in data points can largely be attributed to the recent economic environment, switching from a phone to online approach may have also generated a mode effect.
For more information on this news release, please contact:
Mallory Newall
Senior Vice President, US
Public Affairs
[email protected]
Johnny Sawyer
Senior Research Manager, US
Public Affairs
[email protected]
About Ipsos
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