Thirty Years of the American Family Business: 1995–2025 Benchmark Report
The Family Business Consulting Group and Plante Moran revisit a landmark 1995 survey to see what's changed in family enterprise — and what hasn't.
Access the Findings
Gain deep peer insights to help guide your family enterprise into the next generation.
In 1995, a seminal survey captured how American family enterprises managed governance, succession, ownership, and family dynamics. Thirty years later, The Family Business Consulting Group and Plante Moran partnered to recreate this historic study.
The findings reveal a reassuring truth: family businesses remain optimistic, financially prudent, and deeply committed to multi-generational continuity. With strong structural and technical foundations now firmly in place, leaders have a compelling opportunity to bring that same intentionality to ongoing family communication and alignment.
Median annual revenue rose from $9.5 million to $50 million, yet roughly one in three family businesses still carries no debt — the same ratio as 1995. Growth, it turns out, doesn’t require a different appetite for risk.
Successor selection has declined from 44% to 35% over the past three decades, even as planning tools have matured elsewhere. The data points to a gap worth addressing well before a transition is underway.
In 1995, competition and regulation topped the list of concerns. In 2025, the top two are education of family members and preventing entitlement — a shift toward challenges that live inside the family, not outside it.
More families have estate plans (83%, up from 72%) and strategic plans (71%, up from 51%). But fewer understand their estate tax exposure, and fewer know what’s in each other’s plans than did 30 years ago — a pattern that shows up across governance, ownership, and succession.
Boards meeting three or more times a year rose from 30% to 79%, and where independent directors serve, “outstanding” performance ratings have grown substantially. Investment in governance appears to track with the value owners see from it.
Ninety-five percent of respondents expect their business to remain family-controlled in five years — nearly identical to 1995. What has changed is how deliberately families are preparing the next generation to lead it: employment policies requiring outside work experience rose from 32% to 82%.
Thirty years of data confirm what many family business owners already sense: these enterprises are resilient, financially disciplined, and built for the long term. The opportunity ahead isn’t to change what makes them distinctive — it’s to close the gap between the plans families have made and the conversations that put them into practice.
Built to endure. Ready for what's next.
Download the full benchmark study for the complete findings on ownership, succession, strategy, governance, estate planning, and the challenges shaping the next generation of family business leaders.
Want a deeper look at the findings?
Watch our on-demand webinar featuring Kristi Daeda, CEO and President of The Family Business Consulting Group, and Jeff Watkins, Wealth Management Partner at Plante Moran, as they discuss the most significant trends uncovered in the survey.
This 30-Year Benchmark Study is a collaborative initiative led by The Family Business Consulting Group and Plante Moran.