Counties in Arizona by employer firm births

Maricopa County had the highest employer firm births of 15 counties in 2016, at 5,864. Greenlee County had the lowest, at 0. The median was 90 and the figure for Arizona was 8,391. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Keep it in a collection in your library.
Highest5,864Maricopa County
Median9015 counties
Arizona8,391History

Map of counties, 2016

Apache County: 17 countCochise County: 86 countCoconino County: 175 countGila County: 48 countGraham County: 24 countGreenlee County: 0 countLa Paz County: 16 countMaricopa County: 5,864 countMohave County: 199 countNavajo County: 90 countPima County: 1,019 countPinal County: 277 countSanta Cruz County: 70 countYavapai County: 370 countYuma County: 144 count
  • Under 20
  • 20 to 80
  • 80 to 160
  • 160 to 300
  • 300 and over
count, 2016. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Business Dynamics Statistics by firm age: employer firms of age zero, all covered industries, nation, states and counties from 1978. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All counties, 2016

Maricopa County: 5,864 countMaricopa County5,864Pima County: 1,019 countPima County1,019Yavapai County: 370 countYavapai County370Pinal County: 277 countPinal County277Mohave County: 199 countMohave County199Coconino County: 175 countCoconino County175Yuma County: 144 countYuma County144Navajo County: 90 countNavajo County90Cochise County: 86 countCochise County86Santa Cruz County: 70 countSanta Cruz County70Gila County: 48 countGila County48Graham County: 24 countGraham County24Apache County: 17 countApache County17La Paz County: 16 countLa Paz County16Greenlee County: 0 countGreenlee County0Maricopa County: 5,864 countMaricopa County5,864Pima County: 1,019 countPima County1,019Yavapai County: 370 countYavapai County370Pinal County: 277 countPinal County277Mohave County: 199 countMohave County199Coconino County: 175 countCoconino County175Yuma County: 144 countYuma County144Navajo County: 90 countNavajo County90Cochise County: 86 countCochise County86Santa Cruz County: 70 countSanta Cruz County70Gila County: 48 countGila County48Graham County: 24 countGraham County24Apache County: 17 countApache County17La Paz County: 16 countLa Paz County16Greenlee County: 0 countGreenlee County0
count. Source: 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.

Full ranking

RankCounties2016
count
Change on 2015
1Maricopa County5,864+3.5%
2Pima County1,019+7.3%
3Yavapai County370-7%
4Pinal County277+46.6%
5Mohave County199-4.8%
6Coconino County175+0.6%
7Yuma County144+13.4%
8Navajo County90-8.2%
9Cochise County86-4.4%
10Santa Cruz County70+1.4%
11Gila County48-15.8%
12Graham County24+50%
13Apache County17-39.3%
14La Paz County16+23.1%
15Greenlee County0-100%

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. 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

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. (2025). Business Dynamics Statistics by firm age: employer firms of age zero, all covered industries, nation, states and counties from 1978 (Counties in Arizona by employer firm births, 2016) [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 Arizona by employer firm births, 2016. 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/arizona-counties?period=2016. 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 Arizona by employer firm births, 2016. 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/arizona-counties?period=2016.

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 Arizona by employer firm births, 2016 [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/arizona-counties?period=2016 (Accessed: 22 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{census_counties_in_arizona_by_2016,
  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 Arizona by employer firm births, 2016}},
  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/arizona-counties?period=2016. 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 Arizona by employer firm births, 2016
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/arizona-counties?period=2016
Y2  - 2026/10/22
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firm-births/arizona-counties?period=2016.
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  - 
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.

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 Arizona by employer firm births using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"employer_firm_births","level":"province","within":"Arizona","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=employer_firm_births&level=province&within=Arizona&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 employer firm births?

Maricopa County, with 5,864 in 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which county has the lowest employer firm births?

Greenlee County, with 0 in 2016.

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.

Employer firm births: other rankings

Counties in Arizona: more rankings