Counties in Washington by employer firm births
King County had the highest employer firm births of 38 counties in 2020, at 4,062. Columbia County had the lowest, at 4. The median was 88 and the figure for Washington was 11,561. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.
Map of counties, 2020
- Under 20
- 20 to 50
- 50 to 90
- 90 to 130
- 130 to 390
- 390 and over
- No data
All counties, 2020
Full ranking
| Rank | Counties | 2020 | Change on 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | King County | 4,062 | -6.5% |
| 2 | Pierce County | 1,244 | -0.2% |
| 3 | Snohomish County | 1,214 | -5.6% |
| 4 | Spokane County | 762 | +4% |
| 5 | Clark County | 747 | -7.3% |
| 6 | Whatcom County | 395 | -8.1% |
| 7 | Thurston County | 394 | +4% |
| 8 | Kitsap County | 348 | +2.4% |
| 9 | Benton County | 311 | +5.4% |
| 10 | Yakima County | 274 | +12.8% |
| 11 | Skagit County | 194 | +1.6% |
| 12 | Chelan County | 155 | +3.3% |
| 13 | Franklin County | 140 | +6.9% |
| 14 | Cowlitz County | 114 | -11.6% |
| 15 | Island County | 113 | -7.4% |
| 16 | Lewis County | 102 | -15% |
| 17 | Clallam County | 101 | -19.8% |
| 18 | Grant County | 94 | -11.3% |
| 19 | Kittitas County | 93 | -7% |
| 20 | Grays Harbor County | 83 | -1.2% |
| 21 | Walla Walla County | 75 | -7.4% |
| 22 | Stevens County | 74 | +32.1% |
| 23 | Mason County | 68 | +13.3% |
| 24 | Okanogan County | 67 | +55.8% |
| 25 | San Juan County | 57 | 0% |
| 26 | Jefferson County | 50 | -20.6% |
| 27 | Whitman County | 49 | +6.5% |
| 28 | Klickitat County | 47 | +9.3% |
| 29 | Douglas County | 42 | -17.6% |
| 30 | Pacific County | 23 | -41% |
| 31 | Adams County | 20 | -13% |
| 32 | Pend Oreille County | 16 | +33.3% |
| 33 | Asotin County | 13 | 0% |
| 34 | Skamania County | 12 | -7.7% |
| 35 | Lincoln County | 9 | -43.8% |
| 36 | Ferry County | 7 | |
| 37 | Wahkiakum County | 6 | -33.3% |
| 38 | Columbia County | 4 | -42.9% |
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 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
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, 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 Washington 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/washington-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 Washington 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/washington-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 Washington 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/washington-counties?period=2020 (Accessed: 22 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{census_counties_in_washington_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 Washington 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/washington-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 Washington 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/washington-counties?period=2020
Y2 - 2026/10/22
N1 - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firm-births/washington-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 -
Use this data in your AI agent
Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:
Rank Counties in Washington by employer firm births using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"employer_firm_births","level":"province","within":"Washington","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=employer_firm_births&level=province&within=Washington&limit=10Questions
Which county has the highest employer firm births?
King County, with 4,062 in 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Which county has the lowest employer firm births?
Columbia County, with 4 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. 1 counties have no value for 2020 and are not ranked.
Employer firm births: other rankings
Counties in Washington: more rankings
- Employer firms
- Business revenue: arts, entertainment and recreation (Economic Census)
- Business revenue: professional, scientific and technical services (Economic Census)
- Business revenue: health care and social assistance (Economic Census)
- GDP per capita, US dollars
- Households with a broadband internet subscription
- Covered employment (QCEW)
- Unemployment rate