US states by employer establishments: utilities

Texas had the highest employer establishments: utilities of 51 states in 2015, at 1,975. Rhode Island had the lowest, at 39. The median was 275 and the figure for the United States was 17,990. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest1,975Texas

Lowest39Rhode Island

Median27551 states

United States17,990History

Map of states, 2015

Under 120
120 to 210
210 to 280
280 to 370
370 to 560
560 and over

count, 2015. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, state and US files: establishments (EST), utilities (NAICS 22), all legal forms. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2015

count. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, state and US files: establishments (EST), utilities (NAICS 22), all legal forms. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	States	2015 count	Change on 2014
1	Texas	1,975	-1%
2	California	1,219	+0.5%
3	Pennsylvania	834	+4.5%
4	Florida	754	+2.2%
5	Ohio	667	+5.9%
6	Georgia	602	+0.8%
7	Mississippi	590	-0.5%
8	New York	585	-5%
9	North Carolina	569	+1.2%
10	Indiana	545	+7.1%
11	Louisiana	501	-1%
12	Illinois	491	-0.2%
13	Alabama	426	-2.3%
14	Colorado	385	-0.8%
15	New Jersey	378	-1.6%
16	Michigan	376	-1.6%
17	Missouri	372	+2.2%
18	Oklahoma	363	-1.6%
19	South Carolina	344	-2.3%
20	Minnesota	336	+0.3%
21	Kentucky	335	+1.8%
22	Virginia	334	+0.9%
23	Arkansas	327	-0.3%
24	Wisconsin	306	-2.2%
25	Washington	297	-1%
26	Iowa	275	+1.5%
27	Oregon	274	-1.8%
28	Massachusetts	269	-2.5%
29	Arizona	258	+0.8%
30	West Virginia	238	+0.8%
31	Kansas	237	+2.2%
32	New Mexico	221	-2.2%
32	Utah	221	+2.3%
34	Montana	215	+2.9%
35	Idaho	199	-2.5%
36	South Dakota	157	-1.9%
37	North Dakota	143	+2.9%
38	Maryland	142	+2.9%
39	Tennessee	140	-4.1%
40	Connecticut	139	0%
41	Wyoming	131	-4.4%
42	Nevada	129	-0.8%
43	New Hampshire	121	-5.5%
44	Nebraska	120	+0.8%
45	Alaska	100	0%
46	Maine	89	-9.2%
47	Hawaii	62	+3.3%
48	Vermont	59	+1.7%
49	Delaware	52	-5.5%
50	District of Columbia	49	0%
51	Rhode Island	39	-4.9%

Other periods

About this ranking

Number of establishments with paid employees in utilities (NAICS 22), from the U.S. Census Bureau County Business Patterns. Excludes government owned utilities.

County Business Patterns: establishments (single physical locations, not firms) with paid employees during the pay period including 12 March. Excludes the self-employed and businesses without employees (nonemployer_establishments_*), government employers, crop and animal production, rail transportation, the Postal Service and private households. Establishment counts are not perturbed; the noise Census adds since 2017 applies to employment and payroll, which are not served here. Published about 18 months after the reference year.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the states are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Census Bureau. County Business Patterns, state and US files: establishments (EST), utilities (NAICS 22), all legal forms. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp/datasets/2015/. 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. Census Bureau. (2017). County Business Patterns, state and US files: establishments (EST), utilities (NAICS 22), all legal forms (US states by employer establishments: utilities, 2015) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp/datasets/2015/

MLA 9

County Business Patterns, state and US files: establishments (EST), utilities (NAICS 22), all legal forms, US states by employer establishments: utilities, 2015. U.S. Census Bureau, 9 May 2017, https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp/datasets/2015/. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-establishments-utilities/us-states?period=2015. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2017. County Business Patterns, state and US files: establishments (EST), utilities (NAICS 22), all legal forms. US states by employer establishments: utilities, 2015. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp/datasets/2015/. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-establishments-utilities/us-states?period=2015.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2017) County Business Patterns, state and US files: establishments (EST), utilities (NAICS 22), all legal forms, US states by employer establishments: utilities, 2015 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp/datasets/2015/, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-establishments-utilities/us-states?period=2015 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_us_states_by_employer_2015,
  author = {{U.S. Census Bureau}},
  title = {{County Business Patterns, state and US files: establishments (EST), utilities (NAICS 22), all legal forms: US states by employer establishments: utilities, 2015}},
  year = {2017},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp/datasets/2015/},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-establishments-utilities/us-states?period=2015. Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. County Business Patterns, state and US files: establishments (EST), utilities (NAICS 22), all legal forms. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp/datasets/2015/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Census Bureau
TI  - County Business Patterns, state and US files: establishments (EST), utilities (NAICS 22), all legal forms: US states by employer establishments: utilities, 2015
PY  - 2017
DA  - 2017/05/09
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp/datasets/2015/
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-establishments-utilities/us-states?period=2015
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-establishments-utilities/us-states?period=2015.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. County Business Patterns, state and US files: establishments (EST), utilities (NAICS 22), all legal forms. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp/datasets/2015/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

Which state has the highest employer establishments: utilities?

Texas, with 1,975 in 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which state has the lowest employer establishments: utilities?

Rhode Island, with 39 in 2015.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, state and US files: establishments (EST), utilities (NAICS 22), all legal forms. Retrieved 2026-10-12.