Counties in Alaska by business establishments (QCEW)

Anchorage Municipality had the highest business establishments (QCEW) of 28 counties in 2018, at 8,199. Yakutat City and Borough had the lowest, at 42. The median was 201 and the figure for Alaska was 21,829. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Highest8,199Anchorage Municipality

Lowest42Yakutat City and Borough

Median20128 counties

Alaska21,829History

Map of counties, 2018

Under 130
130 to 160
160 to 250
250 to 550
550 and over
No data

count, 2018. Hatched areas have no value for this period. Source: BLS, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW): annual average establishments, total covered, all industries (NAICS 10), nation, states and counties. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All counties, 2018

count. Source: BLS, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW): annual average establishments, total covered, all industries (NAICS 10), nation, states and counties. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	Counties	2018 count	Change on 2017
1	Anchorage Municipality	8,199	0%
2	Fairbanks North Star Borough	2,275	+0.4%
3	Matanuska-Susitna Borough	2,156	+3%
4	Kenai Peninsula Borough	2,019	+1.7%
5	Juneau City and Borough	1,116	-0.5%
6	Ketchikan Gateway Borough	586	-3.1%
7	Kodiak Island Borough	494	+2.1%
8	Sitka City and Borough	363	-1.1%
9	Bethel Census Area	343	-1.7%
10	Nome Census Area	302	-1.3%
11	Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area	262	-5.1%
12	Southeast Fairbanks Census Area	252	-0.8%
13	North Slope Borough	243	0%
14	Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area	233	+3.1%
15	Aleutians West Census Area	169	-4%
16	Petersburg Borough	165	-1.2%
17	Northwest Arctic Borough	163	-1.2%
18	Dillingham Census Area	158	+1.9%
19	Haines Borough	157	+1.9%
20	Denali Borough	145	+5.8%
21	Kusilvak Census Area	139	-2.1%
22	Hoonah-Angoon Census Area	134	0%
22	Skagway Municipality	134	-0.7%
24	Bristol Bay Borough	124	+8.8%
25	Lake and Peninsula Borough	122	0%
26	Aleutians East Borough	100	-2%
27	Wrangell City and Borough	93	0%
28	Yakutat City and Borough	42	-2.3%

Other periods

About this ranking

Average number of establishments with jobs covered by unemployment insurance during the year, all industries, private and government, from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. An establishment is a single place of business, such as a factory, store or office; a company with several locations has several.

Counts places of business, not firms: for firms use employer_firms. Changes in how large employers report their locations can move the count without any change in activity.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the counties are compared on one definition. 2 counties with data in other periods have no value for 2018 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW): annual average establishments, total covered, all industries (NAICS 10), nation, states and counties. https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2018/a/industry/10.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2026). Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW): annual average establishments, total covered, all industries (NAICS 10), nation, states and counties (Counties in Alaska by business establishments (QCEW), 2018) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2018/a/industry/10.csv

MLA 9

Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW): annual average establishments, total covered, all industries (NAICS 10), nation, states and counties, Counties in Alaska by business establishments (QCEW), 2018. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 21 Aug. 2026, https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2018/a/industry/10.csv. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/business-establishments/alaska-counties?period=2018. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2026. Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW): annual average establishments, total covered, all industries (NAICS 10), nation, states and counties. Counties in Alaska by business establishments (QCEW), 2018. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2018/a/industry/10.csv. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/business-establishments/alaska-counties?period=2018.

Harvard

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2026) Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW): annual average establishments, total covered, all industries (NAICS 10), nation, states and counties, Counties in Alaska by business establishments (QCEW), 2018 [Dataset]. Available at: https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2018/a/industry/10.csv, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/business-establishments/alaska-counties?period=2018 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{bureau_counties_in_alaska_by_2018,
  author = {{U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics}},
  title = {{Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW): annual average establishments, total covered, all industries (NAICS 10), nation, states and counties: Counties in Alaska by business establishments (QCEW), 2018}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2018/a/industry/10.csv},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/business-establishments/alaska-counties?period=2018. Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW): annual average establishments, total covered, all industries (NAICS 10), nation, states and counties. https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2018/a/industry/10.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
TI  - Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW): annual average establishments, total covered, all industries (NAICS 10), nation, states and counties: Counties in Alaska by business establishments (QCEW), 2018
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/21
PB  - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2018/a/industry/10.csv
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/business-establishments/alaska-counties?period=2018
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/business-establishments/alaska-counties?period=2018.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW): annual average establishments, total covered, all industries (NAICS 10), nation, states and counties. https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2018/a/industry/10.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

Which county has the highest business establishments (QCEW)?

Anchorage Municipality, with 8,199 in 2018, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which county has the lowest business establishments (QCEW)?

Yakutat City and Borough, with 42 in 2018.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW): annual average establishments, total covered, all industries (NAICS 10), nation, states and counties. Retrieved 2026-10-12. 2 counties have no value for 2018 and are not ranked.