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Answering service statistics: U.S. business and call coverage data
A sourced snapshot of the businesses and customer-service workforce behind live call coverage. Every figure below links to its original public source.
Business owners, writers, and researchers use these figures to understand the scale of small business, call handling, and customer-service work in the United States and Pennsylvania. The statistics are not measures of any individual company’s service or outcomes.
small businesses operate in the United States
Small businesses make up 99.9% of U.S. businesses and employ 62.3 million people, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2025 national profile.
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, 2025 Small Business Profile ↗small businesses operate in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania small businesses account for 99.6% of businesses in the state and employ 2.5 million people, according to the SBA’s 2025 state profile.
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, Pennsylvania 2025 Small Business Profile ↗U.S. business applications were filed in July 2026
The Census Bureau’s Business Formation Statistics track applications for an employer identification number, a timely indicator of people starting or organizing businesses.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics, July 2026 ↗people worked as switchboard operators, including answering service, in 2024
The national mean annual wage for this occupation was $42,130 in the May 2024 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics estimates.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2024 ↗customer service representative jobs were held in the U.S. in 2025
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects about 289,500 openings a year for customer service representatives from 2025 through 2035, largely from replacement needs.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Customer Service Representatives, updated August 2026 ↗What these numbers show
Live call coverage sits at the intersection of a broad small-business economy and a large customer-service workforce. The Pennsylvania figures are especially relevant for regional businesses that need a reliable point of contact while their teams are serving customers, working in the field, or away from the office.
For businesses evaluating call coverage, the useful question is not whether every call needs the same response. It is whether callers can consistently reach a clear next step: a message, transfer, urgent escalation, or scheduled follow-up.
Explore Contact One’s live answering and call-coverage services or read the guide to preventing missed business calls.
Cite this page
Use this reference when linking to a sourced overview of U.S. and Pennsylvania answering-service and call-coverage context.
Contact One Answering Service. “Answering Service Statistics: U.S. Business and Call Coverage Data.” Updated October 13, 2026. https://c1com.com/answering-service-statisticsMethodology and sources
Contact One selected government and public-agency data that directly describe small businesses, business formation, answering-service occupations, and customer-service employment. Statistics retain the source’s reporting period, so figures should be read with the dates shown rather than treated as a single survey.
- U.S. Small Business Administration, 2025 Small Business ProfilesNational and Pennsylvania small-business counts and employment.
- U.S. Census Bureau, Business Formation StatisticsMonthly business-application data for July 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsMay 2024 occupational employment and wage estimates, plus customer-service employment and projections updated in August 2026.