Counties in Oregon by employer firm births

Multnomah County had the highest employer firm births of 35 counties in 2015, at 1,577. Sherman County had the lowest, at 0. The median was 51 and the figure for Oregon was 6,312. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest1,577Multnomah County

Lowest0Sherman County

Median5135 counties

Oregon6,312History

Map of counties, 2015

Under 20
20 to 30
30 to 50
50 to 90
90 to 370
370 and over
No data

count, 2015. Hatched areas have no value for this period. 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, 2015

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

Rank	Counties	2015 count	Change on 2014
1	Multnomah County	1,577	+2.1%
2	Washington County	879	+3.4%
3	Clackamas County	712	+9.4%
4	Lane County	515	+11.7%
5	Deschutes County	505	+8.4%
6	Marion County	409	+1%
7	Jackson County	348	-4.9%
8	Linn County	145	+21.8%
9	Douglas County	144	+45.5%
10	Yamhill County	136	+17.2%
11	Benton County	113	0%
12	Josephine County	97	-6.7%
13	Clatsop County	76	-2.6%
14	Polk County	72	-7.7%
15	Umatilla County	70	-7.9%
16	Klamath County	67	+3.1%
17	Coos County	54	-18.2%
18	Hood River County	51	+2%
19	Lincoln County	48	-28.4%
20	Columbia County	43	-15.7%
21	Curry County	35	+66.7%
22	Union County	33	-15.4%
23	Tillamook County	31	-22.5%
24	Crook County	30	-3.2%
25	Wasco County	26	+30%
26	Jefferson County	22	+15.8%
26	Wallowa County	22	-4.3%
28	Malheur County	20	-37.5%
29	Baker County	18	-18.2%
30	Grant County	13	+44.4%
31	Harney County	9	-25%
32	Lake County	7	-46.2%
32	Morrow County	7	-22.2%
34	Gilliam County	3	n/a
35	Sherman County	0	-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. 1 counties with data in other periods have no value for 2015 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

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 Oregon by employer firm births, 2015) [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 Oregon by employer firm births, 2015. 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/oregon-counties?period=2015. 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 Oregon by employer firm births, 2015. 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/oregon-counties?period=2015.

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 Oregon by employer firm births, 2015 [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/oregon-counties?period=2015 (Accessed: 22 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_counties_in_oregon_by_2015,
  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 Oregon by employer firm births, 2015}},
  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/oregon-counties?period=2015. 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 Oregon by employer firm births, 2015
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/oregon-counties?period=2015
Y2  - 2026/10/22
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firm-births/oregon-counties?period=2015.
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  -

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Questions

Which county has the highest employer firm births?

Multnomah County, with 1,577 in 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which county has the lowest employer firm births?

Sherman County, with 0 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, Business Dynamics Statistics by firm age: employer firms of age zero, all covered industries, nation, states and counties from 1978. Retrieved 2026-10-22. 1 counties have no value for 2015 and are not ranked.