Counties in Alaska by employer firm births
Anchorage Municipality had the highest employer firm births of 28 counties in 1997, at 567. Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area had the lowest, at 3. The median was 11 and the figure for Alaska was 1,309. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.
Map of counties, 1997
- Under 5
- 5 to 9
- 9 to 13
- 13 to 41
- 41 and over
- No data
All counties, 1997
Full ranking
| Rank | Counties | 1997 | Change on 1996 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anchorage Municipality | 567 | +1.1% |
| 2 | Matanuska-Susitna Borough | 135 | +18.4% |
| 3 | Fairbanks North Star Borough | 134 | -8.8% |
| 4 | Kenai Peninsula Borough | 116 | -10.8% |
| 5 | Juneau City and Borough | 89 | +3.5% |
| 6 | Ketchikan Gateway Borough | 49 | +44.1% |
| 7 | Kodiak Island Borough | 28 | -22.2% |
| 8 | Sitka City and Borough | 23 | -32.4% |
| 9 | Chugach Census Area | 18 | -18.2% |
| 9 | Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area | 18 | +38.5% |
| 11 | Bethel Census Area | 15 | +50% |
| 12 | Aleutians West Census Area | 12 | +140% |
| 12 | Copper River Census Area | 12 | +33.3% |
| 14 | Nome Census Area | 11 | +175% |
| 15 | Haines Borough | 10 | +25% |
| 16 | Petersburg Borough | 9 | +50% |
| 16 | Skagway Municipality | 9 | +200% |
| 18 | North Slope Borough | 8 | +14.3% |
| 18 | Southeast Fairbanks Census Area | 8 | -46.7% |
| 20 | Dillingham Census Area | 7 | 0% |
| 21 | Wrangell City and Borough | 6 | -25% |
| 22 | Kusilvak Census Area | 5 | |
| 22 | Northwest Arctic Borough | 5 | -16.7% |
| 24 | Denali Borough | 3 | |
| 24 | Hoonah-Angoon Census Area | 3 | -40% |
| 24 | Lake and Peninsula Borough | 3 | |
| 24 | Yakutat City and Borough | 3 | 0% |
| 24 | Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area | 3 | -57.1% |
Other periods
About this ranking
New employer firms: firms of age zero in March of the year, meaning that every establishment of the firm had its first employees during the previous twelve months. United States: Census Bureau Business Dynamics Statistics, which calls these firms startups.
A firm counts only when it has employees, so a business without staff is not a birth, and a new branch, merger or change of ownership of an existing firm is not a birth either. Not the same as business_applications (requests for an employer number) or enterprise_births (European business demography). The year is the twelve months to March: 2023 compares March 2022 with March 2023.
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 1997 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.
How to cite
U.S. Census Bureau. Business Dynamics Statistics by firm age: employer firms of age zero, all covered industries, nation, states and counties from 1978. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty_fac.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-22.Citation styles
APA 7
U.S. Census Bureau. (2025). Business Dynamics Statistics by firm age: employer firms of age zero, all covered industries, nation, states and counties from 1978 (Counties in Alaska by employer firm births, 1997) [Data set]. Retrieved October 22, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty_fac.csv
MLA 9
Business Dynamics Statistics by firm age: employer firms of age zero, all covered industries, nation, states and counties from 1978, Counties in Alaska by employer firm births, 1997. U.S. Census Bureau, 25 Sept. 2025, https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty_fac.csv. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firm-births/alaska-counties?period=1997. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.
Chicago (author-date)
U.S. Census Bureau. 2025. Business Dynamics Statistics by firm age: employer firms of age zero, all covered industries, nation, states and counties from 1978. Counties in Alaska by employer firm births, 1997. Dataset. Accessed October 22, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty_fac.csv. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firm-births/alaska-counties?period=1997.
Harvard
U.S. Census Bureau (2025) Business Dynamics Statistics by firm age: employer firms of age zero, all covered industries, nation, states and counties from 1978, Counties in Alaska by employer firm births, 1997 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty_fac.csv, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firm-births/alaska-counties?period=1997 (Accessed: 22 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{census_counties_in_alaska_by_1997,
author = {{U.S. Census Bureau}},
title = {{Business Dynamics Statistics by firm age: employer firms of age zero, all covered industries, nation, states and counties from 1978: Counties in Alaska by employer firm births, 1997}},
year = {2025},
howpublished = {Data set},
url = {https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty_fac.csv},
urldate = {2026-10-22},
note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firm-births/alaska-counties?period=1997. Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Business Dynamics Statistics by firm age: employer firms of age zero, all covered industries, nation, states and counties from 1978. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023\_st\_cty\_fac.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-22.},
}
RIS
TY - DATA
AU - U.S. Census Bureau
TI - Business Dynamics Statistics by firm age: employer firms of age zero, all covered industries, nation, states and counties from 1978: Counties in Alaska by employer firm births, 1997
PY - 2025
DA - 2025/09/25
PB - U.S. Census Bureau
DB - Invokely
UR - https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty_fac.csv
L2 - https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firm-births/alaska-counties?period=1997
Y2 - 2026/10/22
N1 - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firm-births/alaska-counties?period=1997.
N1 - Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Business Dynamics Statistics by firm age: employer firms of age zero, all covered industries, nation, states and counties from 1978. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty_fac.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-22.
ER -
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 employer firm births using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"employer_firm_births","level":"province","within":"Alaska","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=employer_firm_births&level=province&within=Alaska&limit=10Questions
Which county has the highest employer firm births?
Anchorage Municipality, with 567 in 1997, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Which county has the lowest employer firm births?
Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, with 3 in 1997.
Where does this ranking come from?
Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Census Bureau, Business Dynamics Statistics by firm age: employer firms of age zero, all covered industries, nation, states and counties from 1978. Retrieved 2026-10-22. 2 counties have no value for 1997 and are not ranked.