After several years of whiplash, 2025 delivered a sharp rebound for U.S. small businesses, with new analysis pointing to five standout industries and a surprise geographic twist: smaller metro areas posted some of the fastest growth, and Washington, D.C., rocketed into the top tier.
The findings come from Bluevine, published on Stacker, which combined internal data from more than 210,000 active business checking accounts with a proprietary survey of 1,067 U.S. small business owners. Using checking account applications as a proxy for new-business activity, Bluevine identified administrative services, education, retail, business management, and health as the fastest-growing sectors, each showing projected year-over-year growth in applications ranging from 64% to 91%.
Administrative services led the pack, with funded checking accounts up 91% year over year, Bluevine said. The sector’s momentum followed a 16.5% year-over-year gain in 2024, when it was among the few industries showing positive growth. Bluevine tied the surge to continued demand for white-collar support functions, while broader market estimates placed office administrative services at $272 billion in 2024 with projections reaching $425 billion by 2029.
Education-related businesses posted another major leap. Bluevine reported projected applications in the education sector rose 72.5% year over year, as demand for private education options and supplemental learning continued beyond the pandemic era. The analysis cited projections that the U.S. private tutoring market could expand by $29 billion between 2025 and 2029, driven by parents and students seeking academic advantages and exam preparation.
Retail also rebounded decisively. Bluevine reported account applications in retail rose 71.6% year over year. The analysis cited expectations for in-store sales growth of 2.75% and nonstore sales growth of 7%, and survey results suggested resilience even with pricing pressure: about two-thirds of retailers raised prices in 2025, yet 56.1% met or exceeded their revenue projections.
Business management rounded out the top-four growth list, with projected applications up 64.6% between 2024 and 2025. While Bluevine described the category as broad, it pointed to market estimates placing the global management consulting services market at $358 billion in 2025, with projections rising to $451 billion by 2030, alongside evidence of strong startup growth in related areas.
Health-related businesses also expanded quickly, with projected applications up 64.3% year over year. Bluevine’s analysis cited forecasts that the U.S. health and wellness market could reach $3.7 trillion by 2034 and research indicating wellness remains a top priority for consumers, tied to an estimated $500 billion in annual spending growing at 4% to 5% per year. In Bluevine’s survey, just under 41% of health-sector respondents exceeded 2025 revenue projections; 71.4% raised prices, and 33.3% still improved customer retention or acquisition.
Beyond the sector-by-sector gains, the analysis highlighted a broader upbeat picture: 58.4% of small businesses met or exceeded their 2025 revenue projections, while 68.3% rated their overall financial health as strong or stable. Bluevine reported 83.9% expressed optimism about their financial health, and 15.6% said their business was improving after a difficult period. Access to capital appeared to be a tailwind, with a separate small business index showing 61% rated access to funding as good.
Technology adoption was another through-line. Bluevine’s analysis cited research indicating 86% of small businesses had adopted generative AI tools by 2025, and said its survey found small businesses most often used AI for sales and data analysis for business insights. It also cited findings that 58% of small businesses use four or more technology platforms, with many reporting gains in customer acquisition, customer relationships, and operating efficiency.
Then came the geographic jolt. While major cities still dominated overall application totals, including New York, Los Angeles, Houston, and Chicago, Bluevine reported the fastest relative growth came from smaller metros. The five metros with the highest year-over-year growth in total account applications were Indianapolis (+361%), Columbus (+200%), Washington, D.C. (+175%), Sacramento (+147%), and Phoenix (+120%).
Washington, D.C., drew particular attention. Bluevine said the metro area climbed to third in total applications for the year, outpacing much larger regions including Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Chicago, and Miami-Fort Lauderdale. The company reported a spike in applications around February 2025, shortly after the Trump Administration announced federal workforce reductions. Bluevine said its data cannot prove cause and effect, but argued the timing suggests government downsizing may have been one factor pushing more residents toward entrepreneurship.
The analysis linked that idea to broader sentiment captured in Bluevine’s survey: among people laid off in the previous one to two years, 64.9% said they were “very interested” and actively making plans to start a business. Bluevine also pointed to a national rise in business formation, citing federal statistics that showed more than 473,000 seasonally adjusted business applications in August 2025 alone.
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