US states by employer firm births

California had the highest employer firm births of 51 states in 2012, at 53,818. Vermont had the lowest, at 947. The median was 4,847 and the figure for the United States was 408,546. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest53,818California

Lowest947Vermont

Median4,84751 states

United States408,546History

Map of states, 2012

Under 1,500
1,500 to 3,000
3,000 to 4,800
4,800 to 7,000
7,000 to 11K
11K and over

count, 2012. 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 states, 2012

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	States	2012 count	Change on 2011
1	California	53,818	+5.1%
2	Florida	37,487	+2.9%
3	New York	34,521	+2.7%
4	Texas	33,997	+5.8%
5	Illinois	16,052	+0.4%
6	New Jersey	13,562	+8.1%
7	Pennsylvania	12,824	+2.2%
8	Georgia	12,638	+2.6%
9	North Carolina	11,282	+0.6%
10	Ohio	10,266	+4.5%
11	Michigan	9,997	+0.5%
12	Washington	9,836	-0.4%
13	Virginia	9,790	+1.4%
14	Colorado	9,229	+1.8%
15	Massachusetts	8,179	+6.6%
16	Arizona	7,803	-0.5%
17	Missouri	7,730	+3%
18	Maryland	6,675	+5%
19	Minnesota	6,425	+0.3%
20	Indiana	6,313	+2.4%
21	Tennessee	6,303	+1.2%
22	Oregon	5,869	+2.4%
23	Wisconsin	5,580	+3.1%
24	Louisiana	5,230	+6.9%
25	South Carolina	4,987	+0.8%
26	Oklahoma	4,847	+5.7%
27	Utah	4,763	+4.4%
28	Alabama	4,519	+1.7%
29	Nevada	4,231	+2.1%
30	Connecticut	4,040	+8.7%
31	Kentucky	3,993	-0.4%
32	Kansas	3,298	+3.1%
33	Iowa	3,210	+0.9%
34	Arkansas	3,136	-0.5%
35	Mississippi	2,639	-0.2%
36	Nebraska	2,333	+4.9%
37	Idaho	2,329	+3.2%
38	New Mexico	2,233	+4.3%
39	Montana	1,873	+5.2%
40	Maine	1,735	-1.3%
41	New Hampshire	1,722	+6%
42	North Dakota	1,531	+28.8%
43	West Virginia	1,479	+5.6%
44	Hawaii	1,328	-1.3%
45	Rhode Island	1,303	+6%
46	South Dakota	1,236	+10.7%
47	Delaware	1,202	+8.7%
48	Wyoming	1,128	-1.2%
49	District of Columbia	1,007	+1.6%
50	Alaska	970	+4.1%
51	Vermont	947	+7.2%

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 states 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_fa.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 (US states by employer firm births, 2012) [Data set]. Retrieved October 22, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_fa.csv

MLA 9

Business Dynamics Statistics by firm age: employer firms of age zero, all covered industries, nation, states and counties from 1978, US states by employer firm births, 2012. U.S. Census Bureau, 25 Sept. 2025, https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_fa.csv. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firm-births/us-states?period=2012. 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. US states by employer firm births, 2012. Dataset. Accessed October 22, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_fa.csv. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firm-births/us-states?period=2012.

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, US states by employer firm births, 2012 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_fa.csv, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firm-births/us-states?period=2012 (Accessed: 22 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_us_states_by_employer_2012,
  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: US states by employer firm births, 2012}},
  year = {2025},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_fa.csv},
  urldate = {2026-10-22},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firm-births/us-states?period=2012. 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\_fa.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: US states by employer firm births, 2012
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_fa.csv
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firm-births/us-states?period=2012
Y2  - 2026/10/22
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firm-births/us-states?period=2012.
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_fa.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-22.
ER  -

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Questions

Which state has the highest employer firm births?

California, with 53,818 in 2012, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which state has the lowest employer firm births?

Vermont, with 947 in 2012.

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.