Counties in Washington by employer firm births

King County had the highest employer firm births of 39 counties in 2022, at 4,363. Garfield County had the lowest, at 4. The median was 110 and the figure for Washington was 13,087. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest4,363King County

Lowest4Garfield County

Median11039 counties

Washington13,087History

Map of counties, 2022

Under 20
20 to 50
50 to 110
110 to 150
150 to 420
420 and over

count, 2022. 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, 2022

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	2022 count	Change on 2021
1	King County	4,363	+4.8%
2	Pierce County	1,442	+11.8%
3	Snohomish County	1,344	-1.3%
4	Clark County	966	+18.5%
5	Spokane County	955	+14.4%
6	Whatcom County	466	+8.1%
7	Thurston County	428	+6.5%
8	Kitsap County	401	+15.2%
9	Benton County	350	+7%
10	Yakima County	304	+18.3%
11	Skagit County	192	-4%
12	Chelan County	164	+3.1%
13	Grant County	158	+27.4%
14	Cowlitz County	146	+17.7%
15	Franklin County	144	+10.8%
16	Island County	133	+18.8%
17	Clallam County	126	+8.6%
18	Grays Harbor County	111	+19.4%
19	Kittitas County	110	+6.8%
19	Lewis County	110	-1.8%
21	Walla Walla County	86	+17.8%
22	Mason County	78	+27.9%
23	Jefferson County	73	+97.3%
24	Okanogan County	67	-19.3%
25	San Juan County	65	+27.5%
26	Stevens County	52	-20%
27	Douglas County	50	+2%
28	Whitman County	46	+17.9%
29	Klickitat County	45	+40.6%
30	Pacific County	38	-9.5%
31	Lincoln County	23	+76.9%
32	Adams County	20	-23.1%
32	Asotin County	20	+5.3%
34	Pend Oreille County	17	-22.7%
35	Ferry County	11	+57.1%
35	Skamania County	11	-31.3%
37	Wahkiakum County	7	-12.5%
38	Columbia County	5	0%
39	Garfield County	4	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, 2022) [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, 2022. 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=2022. 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, 2022. 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=2022.

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, 2022 [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=2022 (Accessed: 22 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_counties_in_washington_by_2022,
  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, 2022}},
  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=2022. 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, 2022
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=2022
Y2  - 2026/10/22
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firm-births/washington-counties?period=2022.
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 4,363 in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which county has the lowest employer firm births?

Garfield County, with 4 in 2022.

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.