What Size Company Is Considered a Mid-Size Company?

You hear a lot about both “big business” and “small business” in the United States, but you don’t hear so much about mid-size businesses. There’s a simple reason for that: The federal government doesn’t formally recognize a mid-size category, so there’s no official definition of what companies do and don’t qualify. That said, several sources provide general guidelines that you can apply to determine whether your small business has “graduated” to mid-size.

Federal Business Size Criteria

In the United States, you’re either a small business, or you’re not. This matters because government programs offer all sorts of programs to help small businesses. The federal Small Business Administration sets the definition, which varies by industry and usually depends on how many employees your company has or how much revenue it has. For example, if you’re a new car dealer and you have fewer than 200 employees, you’re a small business as far as the government is concerned.

The same is true if your shoe store has less than $27.5 million in revenue. Check the agency’s “Table of Small Business Size Standards.” If you’re in the upper reaches of the size criteria for your industry, it’s fair to call your company mid-size.

Academic Definition of Mid-Size Company

Ohio State University’s National Center for the Middle Market is one of the leading sources of research on issues of interest to mid-size companies in the United States. The center defines a mid-size company as one with average annual revenue – not profit, but revenue – of between $10 million and $1 billion. As of 2018, the center estimated that about 200,000 U.S. companies met that definition, making them mid-size companies.

International Size Standards

International economic organizations generally recognize mid-size companies as a separate category, and they even have a shorthand term, “SMEs” to refer to small and medium-size enterprises. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, most countries define a small business as one with 50 or fewer employees, and a mid-size business as one with between 50 and 250 employees. Some countries set the limit at 200.

In the European Union, for example, mid-size companies are those with 50 to 250 workers and annual revenue of less than 50 million euros, which – as of mid-2019 – equaled about $56 million.

Economic Impact of Mid-Size Firms

If you qualify as a mid-size firm, your company is in good company. The National Center for the Middle Market calculates that mid-size companies account for about one-third of private-sector gross domestic product. Mid-size company income increased almost 8% in 2017, with 79% of companies reporting an increase over the prior year. Even during the financial crisis of last decade, mid-size companies outperformed other sectors by adding over 2 million jobs.