Counties in California by employer firms
Los Angeles County had the highest employer firms of 58 counties in 2017, at 194,779. Alpine County had the lowest, at 24. The median was 3,336 and the figure for California was 652,550. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.
All counties, 2017
Full ranking
Other periods
About this ranking
Number of firms in the private nonfarm sectors covered by the US Census Bureau Business Dynamics Statistics. Establishments under common ownership form one firm.
Excludes nonemployer businesses. Differs from active_companies, the INE DIRCE count, which includes businesses without employees.
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: employer firms, all covered industries, nation, states and counties. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-11.Citation styles
APA 7
U.S. Census Bureau. (2025). Business Dynamics Statistics: employer firms, all covered industries, nation, states and counties (Counties in California by employer firms, 2017) [Data set]. Retrieved October 11, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv
MLA 9
Business Dynamics Statistics: employer firms, all covered industries, nation, states and counties, Counties in California by employer firms, 2017. U.S. Census Bureau, 25 Sept. 2025, https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firms/california-counties?period=2017. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.
Chicago (author-date)
U.S. Census Bureau. 2025. Business Dynamics Statistics: employer firms, all covered industries, nation, states and counties. Counties in California by employer firms, 2017. Dataset. Accessed October 11, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firms/california-counties?period=2017.
Harvard
U.S. Census Bureau (2025) Business Dynamics Statistics: employer firms, all covered industries, nation, states and counties, Counties in California by employer firms, 2017 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firms/california-counties?period=2017 (Accessed: 11 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{census_counties_in_california_by_2017,
author = {{U.S. Census Bureau}},
title = {{Business Dynamics Statistics: employer firms, all covered industries, nation, states and counties: Counties in California by employer firms, 2017}},
year = {2025},
howpublished = {Data set},
url = {https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv},
urldate = {2026-10-11},
note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firms/california-counties?period=2017. Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Business Dynamics Statistics: employer firms, all covered industries, nation, states and counties. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023\_st\_cty.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-11.},
}
RIS
TY - DATA
AU - U.S. Census Bureau
TI - Business Dynamics Statistics: employer firms, all covered industries, nation, states and counties: Counties in California by employer firms, 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.csv
L2 - https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firms/california-counties?period=2017
Y2 - 2026/10/11
N1 - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employer-firms/california-counties?period=2017.
N1 - Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Business Dynamics Statistics: employer firms, all covered industries, nation, states and counties. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
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 California by employer firms using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"employer_firms","level":"province","within":"California","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=employer_firms&level=province&within=California&limit=10Questions
Which county has the highest employer firms?
Los Angeles County, with 194,779 in 2017, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Which county has the lowest employer firms?
Alpine County, with 24 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: employer firms, all covered industries, nation, states and counties. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
Employer firms: other rankings
Counties in California: more rankings
- Business revenue: health care and social assistance (Economic Census)
- Business revenue: utilities (Economic Census)
- Business revenue: transportation and warehousing (Economic Census)
- Business revenue: retail trade (Economic Census)
- Mean travel time to work
- Real GDP growth
- Unemployment rate
- GDP per capita, US dollars