Counties in Washington by employer firm births

King County had the highest employer firm births of 38 counties in 2012, at 3,737. Wahkiakum County had the lowest, at 4. The median was 72 and the figure for Washington was 9,836. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest3,737King County

Lowest4Wahkiakum County

Median7238 counties

Washington9,836History

Map of counties, 2012

Under 20
20 to 40
40 to 70
70 to 100
100 to 290
290 and over
No data

count, 2012. 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, 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	Counties	2012 count	Change on 2011
1	King County	3,737	-0.6%
2	Pierce County	1,046	+9.1%
2	Snohomish County	1,046	+3.1%
4	Clark County	606	-6.8%
5	Spokane County	578	-4.5%
6	Thurston County	314	-2.5%
7	Whatcom County	290	-14.2%
8	Kitsap County	286	+1.1%
9	Benton County	237	+1.3%
10	Yakima County	216	+7.5%
11	Skagit County	158	+3.3%
12	Chelan County	114	-3.4%
13	Lewis County	105	+26.5%
14	Grant County	102	+6.3%
15	Franklin County	97	+11.5%
16	Cowlitz County	94	-17.5%
17	Island County	83	+18.6%
18	Clallam County	82	-19.6%
19	Grays Harbor County	77	-13.5%
20	Kittitas County	67	+4.7%
21	Walla Walla County	59	-1.7%
22	Mason County	58	+13.7%
23	Jefferson County	56	+9.8%
23	Okanogan County	56	-11.1%
25	Stevens County	44	+7.3%
26	San Juan County	41	+2.5%
27	Douglas County	32	-20%
28	Pacific County	30	-6.3%
29	Whitman County	29	-25.6%
30	Klickitat County	26	-25.7%
31	Asotin County	21	0%
32	Adams County	18	+38.5%
33	Ferry County	10	0%
34	Pend Oreille County	9	-18.2%
35	Lincoln County	8	-33.3%
36	Skamania County	7	-36.4%
37	Columbia County	5	0%
38	Wahkiakum County	4	-33.3%

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 2012 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 Washington 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_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 Washington 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_cty_fac.csv. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firm-births/washington-counties?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. Counties in Washington by employer firm births, 2012. 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/washington-counties?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, Counties in Washington by employer firm births, 2012 [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/washington-counties?period=2012 (Accessed: 22 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_counties_in_washington_by_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: Counties in Washington by employer firm births, 2012}},
  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/washington-counties?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\_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 Washington 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_cty_fac.csv
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firm-births/washington-counties?period=2012
Y2  - 2026/10/22
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firm-births/washington-counties?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_cty_fac.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-22.
ER  -

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Questions

Which county has the highest employer firm births?

King County, with 3,737 in 2012, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which county has the lowest employer firm births?

Wahkiakum County, with 4 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. 1 counties have no value for 2012 and are not ranked.