There have been several industries that have been good to small businesses in 2012, and knowing the terrain can help you get a company up and running fast. It’s always best to start a business knowing that it has the highest chances to succeed, especially in this economy. We will also be listing the least favorable industries for small businesses, because there’s no reason to add on to the difficulty of starting a business. The list was compiled by taking into consideration the percentage of growth small businesses experienced from the start of the year on January 1^st to the end on December 31^st.

Small businesses have seen the most growth in the following industries:

• residential construction – 14.77%
• custom software and server building for business usage – 14.29%
• supplies, equipment and machinery wholesale merchants – 13.75%
• technical, scientific and management consulting – 12.31%
• engineering and architectural services – 11.4%
• building exterior, foundation and structure contractors – 11.37%
• building alterations, repairs, maintenance and additions services – 11.32%
• freight trucking – 10.41%
• landscaping, janitorial services, pest exterminators and other related services – 10.11%
• site preparation activities and other specialty trade contractors – 10.04%

The industries that have seen the slowest growth in 2012 were:

• nursing care facilities – a decline of 3.29%
• printing and related activities – 1.86%
• car maintenance and repair – 2.81%
• physicians’ offices – 3%
• bridge, highway and street construction – 4.24%
• insurance related activities such as brokerages and insurance agencies – 4.32%
• real estate lessors – 5.07%
• miscellaneous manufacturing such as  games, toys, jewelry, silverware, sporting good, office supplies other than paper, signs and dolls – 5.55%
• offices of mental health practitioners, speech therapists, occupational therapists, optometrists, chiropractors, and other offices of health practitioners, excluding dentists and physicians – 5.98%
• bowling centers, recreational centers, golf courses and other recreational and amusement services – 6.03%

Looking at these lists we can see some very promising signs. The industries that show the most growth are service based, which means that there is little upfront investment needed on equipment and storage space. Consulting, software development and architecture are at the forefront and they have been for a couple of years now. The lists though are restricted to companies that had less than $10 million in annual revenue, so industries involved in manufacturing, wholesalers and other middlemen have not been included.