Small-business owners are planning more price increases. A net 37 percent of owners plan to raise prices, up 6 points from September and the highest since July 2022, the National Federation of Independent Business reported on Tuesday, Nov. 10.

What "net" means

The NFIB reports price plans as a net percent. It takes the share of owners planning to raise prices and subtracts the share planning to cut them. The figure is seasonally adjusted.

So a net 37 percent does not mean 37 percent of owners are raising prices and the rest are holding still. It means owners planning increases outnumber owners planning cuts by 37 percentage points.

The same arithmetic applies to what owners already did. A net 33 percent reported raising their average selling prices in October, up 2 points.

Why prices are moving

"My cost of doing business goes up, but margins stay the same or are lower," a services owner in Connecticut told the NFIB.

Fuel is a cost for any firm that moves goods by truck. Diesel prices rose 2.7 percent in October after an 11.9 percent jump in September, Reuters reported from the consumer price index.

Payroll is another. Labor quality and availability was owners' top problem for a fourth straight month, cited by 25 percent, down 1 point but 13 points above its 12 percent historical average. Thirty-six percent of owners reported job openings they could not fill, up 4 points. Fifty-six percent were hiring or trying to hire, and 86 percent of those reported few or no qualified applicants.

Taxes were second, named by 21 percent of owners, up 10 points and the highest since May 2021.

The loan rate is the bank's number

A net 13 percent of owners paid a higher interest rate on their most recent loan, up 5 points and the highest since August 2024, the NFIB said.

That rate is set by the lender. A Treasury yield is not a bank's quote. The Treasury sold 10-year notes at a high yield of 5.020 percent on Tuesday, according to Treasury results. The rate on a loan to a small firm is the lender's own number.

The rest of the survey

The NFIB's Small Business Optimism Index slipped 0.1 point to 97.8 in October, just below its 53-year average of 98.0. Its Uncertainty Index fell 6 points to 84, the lowest since December 2025.

Fifteen percent of owners rated their business health excellent, 54 percent good, 26 percent fair and 4 percent poor. A net 8 percent expect better business conditions in six months, and 11 percent said it was a good time to expand.

"Even with inflation pressures continuing to strain operations, more Main Street owners reported their businesses in good or excellent health, and actual sales improved," said Bill Dunkelberg, the NFIB's chief economist. "Looking ahead, continued strength in consumer spending will support economic growth, while persistent inflation, labor shortages, and policy risks will weigh on the small business outlook."

The survey is drawn randomly from NFIB members. It has been collected monthly since 1986 and is released on the second Tuesday of each month.