Cash Flow Statistics
Last updated: 2026-10-28 · 11 sourced statistics
Cash flow is where a profitable invoice and a paid bill meet, and the official data shows how thin that margin is. In the Federal Reserve Banks' 2025 Small Business Credit Survey, 50% of US employer firms said uneven cash flow, which includes collecting on receivables, was a financial challenge in the prior 12 months, and 54% struggled to pay operating expenses. JPMorganChase Institute's 2026 analysis of 2.1 million small businesses found the typical firm held 17.6 cash buffer days in 2025: roughly two and a half weeks of outflows if every inflow stopped. This page brings together those official and bank-research figures, what each one measures, and where it does not apply.
Key takeaways
- 50% of US small employer firms reported uneven cash flow (including collecting receivables) as a challenge in the 2025 Small Business Credit Survey; 54% struggled to pay operating expenses.
- The typical small business in JPMorganChase Institute's nationwide sample held 17.6 cash buffer days in 2025.
- To cope, 54% of employer firms with financial challenges used the owner's personal funds and 47% drew on cash reserves.
- Buffers vary by industry: in the 2016 study, the median restaurant held 16 buffer days and the median real estate firm 47.
At a glance.
Every figure on this page in one table, each linked to its named source. Scroll down for the full context behind each number.
| Figure | What it measures | Source | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50% | 50% of US small employer firms said uneven cash flow, which the survey defines to include collecting on receivables, was a financial challenge in the 12 months before the 2025 Small Business Credit Survey (N=6,500). | Federal Reserve Banks, Small Business Credit Survey: 2026 Report on Employer Firms | 2026 |
| 54% | 54% of small employer firms reported difficulty paying operating expenses such as payroll, rent and inventory in the prior 12 months, second only to increased costs of goods, services and wages (73%). | Federal Reserve Banks, Small Business Credit Survey: 2026 Report on Employer Firms | 2026 |
| 6% | Only 6% of small employer firms reported no financial challenges at all in the prior 12 months. | Federal Reserve Banks, Small Business Credit Survey: 2026 Report on Employer Firms | 2026 |
| 54% | Among employer firms with financial challenges (N=6,183), 54% used the owner's personal funds to respond and 47% drew on the business's cash reserves. | Federal Reserve Banks, Small Business Credit Survey: 2026 Report on Employer Firms | 2026 |
| 56% | Among the 60% of employer firms that applied for financing, the most common reason was to meet operating expenses (56%), ahead of expansion or a new opportunity (46%). | Federal Reserve Banks, Small Business Credit Survey: 2026 Report on Employer Firms | 2026 |
| 64% | Nonemployer firms (owner-only businesses) were more likely than employer firms to rely on the owner's personal funds to address financial challenges: 64% versus 54%. | Federal Reserve Banks, Small Business Credit Survey: 2026 Chartbook on Nonemployer Firms | 2026 |
| 17.6 days | The typical firm in JPMorganChase Institute's nationwide sample of 2.1 million small businesses with Chase Business Banking accounts held 17.6 cash buffer days in 2025. | JPMorganChase Institute, Denver small business snapshot (national comparison, May 2026) | 2026 |
| <15 days | In a 2020 study of 1.4 million small businesses across 25 US metro areas, 50% of small businesses were operating with fewer than 15 cash buffer days; Atlanta and Orlando had the lowest metro medians at 11 days. | JPMorganChase Institute, Small Business Cash Liquidity in 25 Metro Areas | 2020 |
| 27 days | In JPMorganChase Institute's 2016 study of 597,000 small businesses, the median firm held 27 cash buffer days; 25% held fewer than 13 days and 25% held more than 62. | JPMorganChase Institute, Cash Flows, Balances, and Buffer Days | 2016 |
| 16 vs 47 | Industry matters: in the same 2016 study, restaurants had the lowest median cash buffer (16 days) and real estate the highest (47 days). | JPMorganChase Institute, Cash Flows, Balances, and Buffer Days | 2016 |
| $381 vs $374 | The median small business in the 2016 study had average daily cash outflows of $374 against inflows of $381, a gap of only about 2%, which is why a single late receivable can tip a month negative. | JPMorganChase Institute, Cash Flows, Balances, and Buffer Days | 2016 |
The statistics
50% of US small employer firms said uneven cash flow, which the survey defines to include collecting on receivables, was a financial challenge in the 12 months before the 2025 Small Business Credit Survey (N=6,500).
Source:Federal Reserve Banks, Small Business Credit Survey: 2026 Report on Employer Firms2026
54% of small employer firms reported difficulty paying operating expenses such as payroll, rent and inventory in the prior 12 months, second only to increased costs of goods, services and wages (73%).
Source:Federal Reserve Banks, Small Business Credit Survey: 2026 Report on Employer Firms2026
Only 6% of small employer firms reported no financial challenges at all in the prior 12 months.
Source:Federal Reserve Banks, Small Business Credit Survey: 2026 Report on Employer Firms2026
Among employer firms with financial challenges (N=6,183), 54% used the owner's personal funds to respond and 47% drew on the business's cash reserves.
Source:Federal Reserve Banks, Small Business Credit Survey: 2026 Report on Employer Firms2026
Among the 60% of employer firms that applied for financing, the most common reason was to meet operating expenses (56%), ahead of expansion or a new opportunity (46%).
Source:Federal Reserve Banks, Small Business Credit Survey: 2026 Report on Employer Firms2026
Nonemployer firms (owner-only businesses) were more likely than employer firms to rely on the owner's personal funds to address financial challenges: 64% versus 54%.
Source:Federal Reserve Banks, Small Business Credit Survey: 2026 Chartbook on Nonemployer Firms2026
The typical firm in JPMorganChase Institute's nationwide sample of 2.1 million small businesses with Chase Business Banking accounts held 17.6 cash buffer days in 2025.
Source:JPMorganChase Institute, Denver small business snapshot (national comparison, May 2026)2026
In a 2020 study of 1.4 million small businesses across 25 US metro areas, 50% of small businesses were operating with fewer than 15 cash buffer days; Atlanta and Orlando had the lowest metro medians at 11 days.
Source:JPMorganChase Institute, Small Business Cash Liquidity in 25 Metro Areas2020
In JPMorganChase Institute's 2016 study of 597,000 small businesses, the median firm held 27 cash buffer days; 25% held fewer than 13 days and 25% held more than 62.
Source:JPMorganChase Institute, Cash Flows, Balances, and Buffer Days2016
Industry matters: in the same 2016 study, restaurants had the lowest median cash buffer (16 days) and real estate the highest (47 days).
Source:JPMorganChase Institute, Cash Flows, Balances, and Buffer Days2016
The median small business in the 2016 study had average daily cash outflows of $374 against inflows of $381, a gap of only about 2%, which is why a single late receivable can tip a month negative.
Source:JPMorganChase Institute, Cash Flows, Balances, and Buffer Days2016
When these numbers don't apply
Aggregate statistics hide a lot. Read these caveats before quoting a figure as if it describes your specific situation.
- The Small Business Credit Survey is a convenience sample of firms with 1 to 499 employees, weighted by the Federal Reserve Banks but not a random sample. Treat its shares as indicative, not a census.
- In the survey, "uneven cash flow" explicitly includes collecting on receivables, so it is not a pure measure of seasonality. The Fed also changed the 2025 questionnaire, so financial-challenge shares are not directly comparable with earlier survey years.
- JPMorganChase Institute figures cover only businesses with Chase Business Banking deposit accounts and only cash held at Chase. A firm with balances at other banks, or a credit line, has more runway than its buffer days suggest.
- The 2016, 2020 and 2026 JPMorganChase Institute studies use different samples and periods (597,000, 1.4 million and 2.1 million businesses), so the move from 27 to 17.6 median days is not a like-for-like trend.
- All figures here are US-only. Buffer days vary sharply by industry, so a restaurant and a real estate firm should not benchmark against the same median.
- The often repeated claim that 82% of small business failures are due to cash flow problems is not included: we could not find a primary study that states it, only secondary citations.
How we compiled this data
Reviewed 2026-10-28. We kept only figures we could read on the publisher's own page or report that day: the Federal Reserve Banks' 2026 Report on Employer Firms (2025 Small Business Credit Survey, fielded 3 September to 14 November 2025, 6,525 employer responses) and its 2026 Chartbook on Nonemployer Firms, plus three JPMorganChase Institute studies of Chase Business Banking deposit data (2016, 2020 and May 2026). Each figure carries the publication year of its report. Earlier versions of this page cited an 82% cash-flow failure figure attributed to U.S. Bank via SCORE, an unpaid-invoice average from a vendor survey and a vendor overdue-invoice share; these were removed because the first has no traceable primary source and the others belong on our late payment and unpaid invoice pages. On 2026-10-28 the survey's figure for firms that responded to financial challenges by paying late (24%) was removed here; it stays on the late payment statistics page, where it measures the subject directly.
We hand-collected each figure from its original publisher rather than recycling secondary round-ups, cross-checked the headline numbers against the source documents in 2026-10-28, and link every statistic to the report it came from so you can verify it yourself. Where a publisher issues annual updates, we cite the report edition and flag the year inline.
Frequently asked questions
How many small businesses have cash flow problems?
In the Federal Reserve Banks' 2025 Small Business Credit Survey, 50% of US employer firms reported uneven cash flow (which includes collecting on receivables) as a financial challenge in the prior 12 months, and 54% reported difficulty paying operating expenses. Only 6% reported no financial challenges.
How many days of cash does a typical small business hold?
The typical firm in JPMorganChase Institute's sample of 2.1 million Chase small business customers held 17.6 cash buffer days in 2025. Older studies used different samples: 27 median days in 2016, and fewer than 15 days for half of firms in 2020.
What is a cash buffer day?
It is JPMorganChase Institute's measure of how many days a business could keep paying its average daily outflows from the cash it holds if all inflows stopped. A business with $9,000 in the bank and average outflows of $500 a day has 18 buffer days.
Is it true that 82% of small businesses fail because of cash flow?
We could not trace that figure to a primary study; it circulates through secondary articles citing a U.S. Bank analysis. The Federal Reserve survey data on this page shows cash flow is a very common strain, but it does not measure why businesses close.
How do small businesses cover a cash shortfall?
Among employer firms with financial challenges in the 2025 survey, 54% used the owner's personal funds and 47% drew on the business's cash reserves. Some firms also paid their own bills late, which is covered on the late payment statistics page. Owner-only businesses leaned on personal funds more often (64%).
What does this mean for a business that sends invoices?
With a median buffer of about 17.6 days, an invoice paid 30 days late can outlast the cash a typical firm holds. Shorter payment terms, deposits on large jobs and reminders sent before and after the due date shorten the gap between doing the work and banking the money.
Put these figures to use
- Payments hub: Guides on payment terms, methods and getting invoices paid on time.
- Late fee calculator: Work out a late fee on an overdue invoice from the amount, rate and days late.
- Automatic payment reminders: how to set up a schedule: When to send each invoice reminder before and after the due date, and what each email needs.
- Late payment statistics: how bad is the problem?: What the late-payment surveys measure, why they disagree and how to check your own numbers.
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