Counties in Washington by employer firm births

King County had the highest employer firm births of 39 counties in 2021, at 4,162. Garfield County had the lowest, at 4. The median was 93 and the figure for Washington was 12,151. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest4,162King County

Lowest4Garfield County

Median9339 counties

Washington12,151History

Map of counties, 2021

Under 20
20 to 50
50 to 90
90 to 130
130 to 380
380 and over

count, 2021. 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, 2021

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	2021 count	Change on 2020
1	King County	4,162	+2.5%
2	Snohomish County	1,362	+12.2%
3	Pierce County	1,290	+3.7%
4	Spokane County	835	+9.6%
5	Clark County	815	+9.1%
6	Whatcom County	431	+9.1%
7	Thurston County	402	+2%
8	Kitsap County	348	0%
9	Benton County	327	+5.1%
10	Yakima County	257	-6.2%
11	Skagit County	200	+3.1%
12	Chelan County	159	+2.6%
13	Franklin County	130	-7.1%
14	Cowlitz County	124	+8.8%
14	Grant County	124	+31.9%
16	Clallam County	116	+14.9%
17	Island County	112	-0.9%
17	Lewis County	112	+9.8%
19	Kittitas County	103	+10.8%
20	Grays Harbor County	93	+12%
21	Okanogan County	83	+23.9%
22	Walla Walla County	73	-2.7%
23	Stevens County	65	-12.2%
24	Mason County	61	-10.3%
25	San Juan County	51	-10.5%
26	Douglas County	49	+16.7%
27	Pacific County	42	+82.6%
28	Whitman County	39	-20.4%
29	Jefferson County	37	-26%
30	Klickitat County	32	-31.9%
31	Adams County	26	+30%
32	Pend Oreille County	22	+37.5%
33	Asotin County	19	+46.2%
34	Skamania County	16	+33.3%
35	Lincoln County	13	+44.4%
36	Wahkiakum County	8	+33.3%
37	Ferry County	7	0%
38	Columbia County	5	+25%
39	Garfield County	4	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, 2021) [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, 2021. 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=2021. 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, 2021. 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=2021.

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, 2021 [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=2021 (Accessed: 22 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_counties_in_washington_by_2021,
  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, 2021}},
  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=2021. 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, 2021
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=2021
Y2  - 2026/10/22
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firm-births/washington-counties?period=2021.
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 4,162 in 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which county has the lowest employer firm births?

Garfield County, with 4 in 2021.

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.