Counties in Oregon by employer firm births

Multnomah County had the highest employer firm births of 34 counties in 2020, at 1,611. Sherman County had the lowest, at 3. The median was 69 and the figure for Oregon was 6,886. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest1,611Multnomah County

Lowest3Sherman County

Median6934 counties

Oregon6,886History

Map of counties, 2020

Under 20
20 to 30
30 to 70
70 to 120
120 to 460
460 and over
No data

count, 2020. 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, 2020

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	2020 count	Change on 2019
1	Multnomah County	1,611	-0.7%
2	Washington County	945	+7.3%
3	Clackamas County	684	-13.2%
4	Deschutes County	584	+3.2%
5	Marion County	564	+2.2%
6	Lane County	540	-8%
7	Jackson County	385	+5.8%
8	Linn County	164	-5.2%
9	Yamhill County	141	-25.4%
10	Josephine County	136	+12.4%
11	Douglas County	129	-11%
12	Benton County	123	+6%
13	Polk County	94	-19%
14	Lincoln County	82	-5.7%
15	Umatilla County	79	+33.9%
16	Coos County	78	-15.2%
17	Clatsop County	72	-4%
18	Klamath County	66	-13.2%
19	Wasco County	53	+76.7%
20	Columbia County	51	-26.1%
21	Hood River County	48	-2%
22	Curry County	36	-14.3%
23	Union County	34	-24.4%
24	Crook County	33	-2.9%
25	Tillamook County	29	-29.3%
26	Jefferson County	28	-15.2%
27	Malheur County	26	-13.3%
28	Wallowa County	24	+26.3%
29	Baker County	22	-18.5%
30	Lake County	11	-15.4%
31	Morrow County	10	+42.9%
32	Harney County	8	-50%
33	Grant County	6	-50%
34	Sherman County	3	-25%

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 2020 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, 2020) [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, 2020. 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=2020. 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, 2020. 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=2020.

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, 2020 [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=2020 (Accessed: 22 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_counties_in_oregon_by_2020,
  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, 2020}},
  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=2020. 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, 2020
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=2020
Y2  - 2026/10/22
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firm-births/oregon-counties?period=2020.
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 1,611 in 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which county has the lowest employer firm births?

Sherman County, with 3 in 2020.

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 2020 and are not ranked.