CHARLOTTE — Business owners are getting increasingly worried about the economy — and it’s showing up in their Google search data.
A new study by Crux Analytics analyzed Google Trends data across all 50 states, comparing searches between January and March 2024 to June and August 2025. Searches for “business loan” grew by 23% across the country, while “cash flow” searches grew 28%. And “going out of business” searches increased by 7% over the same time period, according to the report.
Jacob Bennett, co-founder of Crux Analytics, said the data was a real-time window into business sentiment that traditional economic indicators might miss. He said a recent wave of tariffs that went into effect Aug. 1 might be pushing business owners to worry more about their own finances.
“While it’s true that tariffs can ultimately benefit certain domestic industries and strengthen supply chain resilience, the immediate anxiety we’re tracking reflects the reality that small businesses often lack the capital reserves and diversified supplier networks that the U.S.’ biggest corporations use to weather trade transitions,” Bennett said in a news release.
The spike in pessimistic online searches by business owners comes amid President Donald Trump’s global trade battle, marked by often volatile but generally rising tariffs that make importing goods more expensive, with a stated goal of boosting domestic manufacturing and other industries. Since his inauguration in January, Trump has implemented a number of tariffs on goods imported to the U.S. from abroad.
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