Counties in Washington by employer firm births

King County had the highest employer firm births of 39 counties in 2017, at 4,286. Wahkiakum County had the lowest, at 3. The median was 78 and the figure for Washington was 11,751. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest4,286King County

Lowest3Wahkiakum County

Median7839 counties

Washington11,751History

Map of counties, 2017

Under 10
10 to 50
50 to 80
80 to 130
130 to 370
370 and over

count, 2017. 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, 2017

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	2017 count	Change on 2016
1	King County	4,286	-1.8%
2	Snohomish County	1,231	+1.9%
3	Pierce County	1,212	+10.7%
4	Clark County	835	+3%
5	Spokane County	727	-5.7%
6	Whatcom County	432	+4.3%
7	Thurston County	396	+6.5%
8	Kitsap County	325	-6.1%
9	Benton County	298	+9.2%
10	Yakima County	225	-12.1%
11	Skagit County	193	-7.7%
12	Chelan County	149	-5.7%
13	Cowlitz County	128	+8.5%
14	Clallam County	125	+25%
15	Grant County	114	+18.8%
16	Lewis County	110	+20.9%
17	Franklin County	108	+4.9%
18	Island County	101	-8.2%
19	Grays Harbor County	93	+3.3%
20	Kittitas County	78	+8.3%
21	Mason County	75	+27.1%
22	Jefferson County	70	+16.7%
23	Walla Walla County	59	-21.3%
24	San Juan County	57	-1.7%
25	Okanogan County	55	-14.1%
26	Stevens County	52	-16.1%
27	Douglas County	47	-14.5%
28	Whitman County	30	+15.4%
29	Klickitat County	29	+3.6%
30	Pacific County	28	-20%
31	Asotin County	26	+8.3%
32	Adams County	16	-15.8%
33	Skamania County	14	+40%
34	Pend Oreille County	11	-8.3%
35	Ferry County	10	-23.1%
36	Lincoln County	8	-46.7%
37	Garfield County	4	n/a
38	Columbia County	3	-40%
38	Wahkiakum County	3	0%

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, 2017) [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, 2017. 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=2017. 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, 2017. 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=2017.

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, 2017 [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=2017 (Accessed: 22 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_counties_in_washington_by_2017,
  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, 2017}},
  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=2017. 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, 2017
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=2017
Y2  - 2026/10/22
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firm-births/washington-counties?period=2017.
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 4,286 in 2017, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which county has the lowest employer firm births?

Wahkiakum County, with 3 in 2017.

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.