Counties in Illinois by employer firm births
Cook County had the highest employer firm births of 98 counties in 2021, at 7,880. Hardin County had the lowest, at 0. The median was 19 and the figure for Illinois was 16,373. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.
Map of counties, 2021
- Under 10
- 10 to 20
- 20 to 30
- 30 to 90
- 90 and over
- No data
Top 40 counties, 2021
Full ranking
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. 4 counties with data in other periods have no value for 2021 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 Illinois by employer firm births, 2021) [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 Illinois by employer firm births, 2021. 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/illinois-counties?period=2021. 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 Illinois by employer firm births, 2021. 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/illinois-counties?period=2021.
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 Illinois by employer firm births, 2021 [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/illinois-counties?period=2021 (Accessed: 22 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{census_counties_in_illinois_by_2021,
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 Illinois by employer firm births, 2021}},
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/illinois-counties?period=2021. 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 Illinois by employer firm births, 2021
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/illinois-counties?period=2021
Y2 - 2026/10/22
N1 - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firm-births/illinois-counties?period=2021.
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 Illinois by employer firm births using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"employer_firm_births","level":"province","within":"Illinois","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=employer_firm_births&level=province&within=Illinois&limit=10Questions
Which county has the highest employer firm births?
Cook County, with 7,880 in 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Which county has the lowest employer firm births?
Hardin County, with 0 in 2021.
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. 4 counties have no value for 2021 and are not ranked.
Employer firm births: other rankings
Counties in Illinois: more rankings
- Business revenue: health care and social assistance (Economic Census)
- Business revenue: other services (Economic Census)
- Business revenue: manufacturing (Economic Census)
- Business revenue: administrative support and waste management (Economic Census)
- Unemployment rate (US five-year survey estimate)
- Covered employment (QCEW)
- Households with a broadband internet subscription
- Labor force participation rate (US five-year survey estimate)