Graphic of the week: Juneteenth 2026

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As the U.S. celebrates Juneteenth today, data shows that Black-owned businesses are an important driver of jobs and income in Ohio.

According to Census Bureau data, there were 5,604 Black-owned businesses with employees in Ohio in 2023. These businesses employed more than 64,000 workers. The annual payroll from Black-owned businesses has grown from $1.3 billion in 2017 to $2 billion in 2023, an 82% increase in the past six years, as illustrated above.

The data on the economic impact of Black-owned businesses in Ohio demonstrates that the state’s diversity is one of its greatest strengths and that the success of the Black community leads to success for the state overall.

Previous HPIO work has shown that financial security directly influences health outcomes, including mental health and overall health status, and is closely connected to other social drivers of health such as housing, education, food security and healthcare access. HPIO publications have also found that expanding equitable access to financing and resources can help prospective business owners from systematically disadvantaged communities overcome existing barriers to business creation, growth and long-term success.

The history of Juneteenth dates to the 1865 arrival of Union soldiers in Galveston, Texas, to announce that more than 250,000 enslaved Black people in the state were free by executive decree, making it the final state to do so. Since that time, Juneteenth (a portmanteau of June and 19th) has been celebrated, primarily in the Black community, as the U.S.’s “second Independence Day,” according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. It became both a state holiday in Ohio and a federal holiday in 2021.