Important Takeaways:

• A significant number of small businesses across the nation are struggling to pay rent due to skyrocketing costs, a recent study by business networking platform Alignable found.
• The company’s latest Small Business Rent report, published on Friday, found that 43 percent of small business renters in the U.S. were unable to pay their rent in full and on time in the month of April. Such a high delinquency rate hasn’t been reported in the U.S. since March 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when it reached 49 percent.
• The delinquency rate was also four percentage points higher than in March, making it the largest month-over-month surge in over a year, according to data analyzed by Alignable. Newsweek contacted Alignable for comment by email on Tuesday morning.
• The state with the highest delinquency rate in the country was Texas with 52 percent of small business owners unable to pay their rent in full and on time in April, followed by Massachusetts (47 percent), California (46 percent), Maryland (42 percent), New York and Washington State (39 percent). The lowest delinquency rate was in Colorado, with 26 percent.
• Troubles among small businesses is trouble for the entire country’s economy, as small businesses employ nearly half of the entire American workforce, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and represents 43.5 percent of American GDP.

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