Counties in Alaska by business establishments (QCEW)

Anchorage Municipality had the highest business establishments (QCEW) of 30 counties in 2023, at 8,710. Yakutat City and Borough had the lowest, at 48. The median was 198 and the figure for Alaska was 25,004. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Highest8,710Anchorage Municipality

Lowest48Yakutat City and Borough

Median19830 counties

Alaska25,004History

Map of counties, 2023

Under 130
130 to 150
150 to 200
200 to 310
310 to 700
700 and over

count, 2023. 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, 2023

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	2023 count	Change on 2022
1	Anchorage Municipality	8,710	+3.1%
2	Matanuska-Susitna Borough	2,750	+6.1%
3	Fairbanks North Star Borough	2,421	+3%
4	Kenai Peninsula Borough	2,358	+3.1%
5	Juneau City and Borough	1,153	+2.7%
6	Ketchikan Gateway Borough	610	+1.5%
7	Kodiak Island Borough	481	+3.4%
8	Chugach Census Area	408	-0.7%
9	Sitka City and Borough	400	+5%
10	Bethel Census Area	325	-3.6%
11	Nome Census Area	297	-1.3%
12	Southeast Fairbanks Census Area	256	+3.2%
13	Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area	249	-2%
14	Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area	244	-2.8%
15	North Slope Borough	227	-0.4%
16	Petersburg Borough	168	+1.2%
17	Aleutians West Census Area	162	-0.6%
18	Haines Borough	160	+3.2%
19	Dillingham Census Area	157	-1.3%
20	Northwest Arctic Borough	156	-2.5%
21	Copper River Census Area	150	-4.5%
21	Denali Borough	150	+1.4%
23	Hoonah-Angoon Census Area	141	+3.7%
24	Kusilvak Census Area	132	-1.5%
25	Bristol Bay Borough	130	-0.8%
26	Skagway Municipality	120	+2.6%
27	Lake and Peninsula Borough	115	-2.5%
28	Wrangell City and Borough	103	+2%
29	Aleutians East Borough	101	-1%
30	Yakutat City and Borough	48	-2%

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. 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/2023/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), 2023) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2023/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), 2023. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 21 Aug. 2026, https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2023/a/industry/10.csv. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/business-establishments/alaska-counties?period=2023. 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), 2023. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2023/a/industry/10.csv. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/business-establishments/alaska-counties?period=2023.

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), 2023 [Dataset]. Available at: https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2023/a/industry/10.csv, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/business-establishments/alaska-counties?period=2023 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{bureau_counties_in_alaska_by_2023,
  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), 2023}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2023/a/industry/10.csv},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/business-establishments/alaska-counties?period=2023. 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/2023/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), 2023
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/21
PB  - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2023/a/industry/10.csv
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/business-establishments/alaska-counties?period=2023
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/business-establishments/alaska-counties?period=2023.
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/2023/a/industry/10.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Embed code

<iframe src="https://invokely.ai/embed/rankings/business-establishments/alaska-counties?period=2023" width="760" height="500" title="Counties in Alaska by business establishments (QCEW), 2023, chart from Invokely" loading="lazy" style="border:0;width:100%;max-width:760px" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin"></iframe>

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

Rank Counties in Alaska by business establishments (QCEW) using official data, and cite the source.

rank_places {"indicator":"establishments_qcew","level":"province","within":"Alaska","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=establishments_qcew&level=province&within=Alaska&limit=10

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

Which county has the highest business establishments (QCEW)?

Anchorage Municipality, with 8,710 in 2023, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which county has the lowest business establishments (QCEW)?

Yakutat City and Borough, with 48 in 2023.

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.