28,500 Under-25s Run Their Own Businesses in Washington

Washington counted 28,500 business owners under 25 with no paid workers in 2023, U.S. Census Bureau data shows — nearly 5% of the state's non-employer firm owners, just below the national mark of 5.5%. That share slipped from a 2021 high after years of steady growth, and community leaders say the dip reflects barriers, not lack of interest.

Luke Jun, 23, knows the obstacles firsthand. "I had no idea how to set up a business license or an (Employer Identification) number," he said of his college years. "I literally had to look everything up, find out how to do it on my own." A business management degree wasn't enough — he wanted to run something himself.

In 2022, Jun and his brothers launched Hearth, a one-stop shop for footwear, clothing and accessories. It has since expanded to three storefronts across Washington and Oregon, including Jun's location at Westfield Southcenter mall in a partnership with former Seattle Seahawk Marshawn Lynch. "Now that I know how a business works, and I know how to set it up and run it," Jun said, "I feel like there's really endless possibilities."

What's holding young founders back?

Community leaders point to bureaucratic red tape, taxes and shallow pockets. Many of these owners also juggle schoolwork, chores and extracurriculars.

"If there's no opportunity, if there's no access," said Charlett Shoecraft, founder and CEO of Seattle's Empowering Youth and Families Outreach, which runs a youth entrepreneurs program, "then that's the problem."

Mark Harmsworth, small-business policy director at the Washington Policy Center and a former Republican state representative, calls the setup process labyrinthine. Even sole proprietors must register with the state and apply for a federal Employer Identification Number. Many then face destination-based sales tax accounting. For mail-order businesses, "You've got to charge the correct amount of sales tax on everything you ship," Harmsworth said.

Lars Erickson, senior vice president of public affairs and communications at the Seattle Metro Chamber of Commerce, said limited capital and smaller professional networks get compounded by the city's high costs.

How does a candle business scale?

Kaylie Gran's Seattle Candle Girl started with a craft-store candlemaking kit bought in 2020, when she was 13 and pandemic-bound at home. "I never had an intention of making a small business," Gran, now 19, said. "It kind of just all happened." By her first holiday season she was gifting candles to family; that produced a business, with her mother, Jessica Kido, joining at the helm. Their first three scents: sugarplum, Christmas pine and roasted chestnut.

The milestones stacked up — first customer outside her social circle, first returning client, her 100th candle. The line now includes reed diffusers and room sprays, plus classes teaching others to make candles, experiments with lotions and wholesale sales to retailers.

Costs still bite. Gran briefly raised candle prices from $19.50 to $21.50 before finding alternative suppliers; the price has held at $19.95 for about two years. "There's been a few times, like when I was doing my SATs," she said, "when I got home from taking three tests, I was like, 'I do not want to make candles.'" Her full-time engineering job at Washington State Ferries provides the bulk of her income, and she calls the business "still very much in the growth phase." A teal-signed storefront remains the goal — but given the region's steep real estate and inflation, "It'd probably be very hard for us to start a brick-and-mortar right now," she said.

Who's starting even younger?

In Arlington, Adalyn Smith, 16, founded The Glow Mani in September 2024 at age 14, selling hand-painted press-on nails. "I've always had different ambitions and dreams when it comes to my own career and how I want to get it jump-started early," she said. She now ships to more than 25 states and Canada — "The power of social media is definitely helpful with that" — while balancing schoolwork, cross country and track by front-loading days to make nail sets in batches. Her sister Mila, 13, opened Tinsel & Braids by Mila earlier this year, self-taught in hair tinsel. Together they work birthday parties and private events.

In Tukwila, Jordyn Tuani, 12, runs Chunky Lemon, selling Hawaiian-style lemonade with li hing mui powder, while her 7-year-old brother Josiah heads Siah&Co., selling squishy toys. Both launched this year and sell at the semimonthly Pasifika Island Market at the Oceania Northwest community center. Their mother, Johnee Tuani, 35, said Josiah "kept begging us to do his own thing" after spending hundreds of family dollars on squishies. She and her husband Caleb, 38, wanted to teach responsibility and the value of money, "especially because everything in this world is getting so much more expensive." She handles most of the background work: "It's been kind of stressful, but it's fun because it's something that we get to do as a family."

Winter won't close Chunky Lemon — a customer survey found "apparently, everybody buys lemonade all year-round." Chunky Lemon appears at Federal Way's Nesian Holiday Market on Dec. 12, peak season for Siah&Co. too. Jordyn's advice to other young founders: "Dream big." "You can do whatever you put your mind to."