Every five years the U.S. Department of Commerce conducts a Survey of Business Owners. Those data are eventually made available to policy makers and scholars on a scheduled basis. Most of the 2002 data were not released until 2006 – hence there is at least a three year lag in the data. The 2007 survey will yield data, then, by 2011. We are therefore required to look at the 2002 data to determine the major characteristics of minority business activity in Iowa. In this brief report we are looking at selected national and Iowa characteristics.