Counties in Washington by employer firm births

King County had the highest employer firm births of 39 counties in 2016, at 4,366. Garfield County had the lowest, at 0. The median was 75 and the figure for Washington was 11,668. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest4,366King County

Lowest0Garfield County

Median7539 counties

Washington11,668History

Map of counties, 2016

Under 20
20 to 60
60 to 80
80 to 110
110 to 360
360 and over

count, 2016. 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, 2016

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	2016 count	Change on 2015
1	King County	4,366	+7%
2	Snohomish County	1,208	+1.1%
3	Pierce County	1,095	+16.5%
4	Clark County	811	+22.7%
5	Spokane County	771	+8.1%
6	Whatcom County	414	+10.7%
7	Thurston County	372	0%
8	Kitsap County	346	+1.5%
9	Benton County	273	+4.2%
10	Yakima County	256	+12.3%
11	Skagit County	209	+11.8%
12	Chelan County	158	-9.7%
13	Cowlitz County	118	+15.7%
14	Island County	110	+5.8%
15	Franklin County	103	+9.6%
16	Clallam County	100	-11.5%
17	Grant County	96	-13.5%
18	Lewis County	91	-7.1%
19	Grays Harbor County	90	+3.4%
20	Walla Walla County	75	+2.7%
21	Kittitas County	72	-13.3%
22	Okanogan County	64	+23.1%
23	Stevens County	62	+3.3%
24	Jefferson County	60	+1.7%
25	Mason County	59	-11.9%
26	San Juan County	58	-4.9%
27	Douglas County	55	+10%
28	Pacific County	35	+12.9%
29	Klickitat County	28	-24.3%
30	Whitman County	26	-42.2%
31	Asotin County	24	+60%
32	Adams County	19	-5%
33	Lincoln County	15	+87.5%
34	Ferry County	13	+62.5%
35	Pend Oreille County	12	-25%
36	Skamania County	10	-9.1%
37	Columbia County	5	-28.6%
38	Wahkiakum County	3	-57.1%
39	Garfield County	0	n/a

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. 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, 2016) [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, 2016. 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=2016. 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, 2016. 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=2016.

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, 2016 [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=2016 (Accessed: 22 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_counties_in_washington_by_2016,
  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, 2016}},
  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=2016. 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, 2016
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=2016
Y2  - 2026/10/22
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firm-births/washington-counties?period=2016.
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 4,366 in 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which county has the lowest employer firm births?

Garfield County, with 0 in 2016.

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.