This report investigates change in minority-owned businesses in metropolitan Milwaukee during the 1990s. According to data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census' Survey of Minority-Owned Businesses, Milwaukee ranked 13th among the nation's largest 50 metropolitan areas in the growth in the number of Black-owned businesses between 1992 and 1997. During the same period Milwaukee ranked 1st among the nation's largest metropolitan areas in the growth of payroll and employment at Hispanic-owned businesses.

Despite these gains, Milwaukee continues to lag behind most metropolitan areas on major indicators of minority business ownership. By controlling for differences in the racial composition of metropolitan areas, the author found that in 1997 Milwaukee ranked 48th among the 50 largest metropolitan areas in Black-owned firms per 1,000 Black population and 49th among the 50 in Hispanic-owned firms per 1,000 Hispanic population.