US states by employer firms, 2023

Name: US states by employer firms, 2023
Creator: U.S. Census Bureau
License: Public domain (US federal government work, citation requested)

California had the highest employer firms of 51 states in 2023, at 725,847. Alaska had the lowest, at 14,857. The median was 71,429 and the figure for the United States was 5.59 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest725,847California

Lowest14,857Alaska

Median71,42951 states

United States5,593,727History

All states, 2023

CSV Chart (SVG)

count. Source: U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 2026-10-10.

Full ranking

Rank	States	2023 count	Change on 2022
1	California	725,847	+1.1%
2	Florida	455,648	+2.3%
3	Texas	448,396	+2.4%
4	New York	402,077	+0.8%
5	Illinois	222,365	-0.1%
6	Pennsylvania	211,009	0%
7	Georgia	177,543	+1.2%
8	North Carolina	175,992	+1.7%
9	New Jersey	175,347	+0.9%
10	Ohio	167,526	+0.2%
11	Michigan	155,861	+1.1%
12	Virginia	144,508	+1%
13	Washington	142,661	+0.3%
14	Massachusetts	131,145	+1%
15	Colorado	127,843	+0.1%
16	Arizona	107,886	+1.9%
17	Minnesota	103,804	+0.1%
18	Indiana	102,872	+1.2%
19	Missouri	102,345	-2.2%
20	Maryland	100,768	+0.7%
21	Wisconsin	98,413	+0.4%
22	Tennessee	97,956	+1.6%
23	Oregon	88,326	+0.1%
24	South Carolina	83,764	+2%
25	Louisiana	75,251	+0.6%
26	Alabama	71,429	+0.7%
27	Utah	67,722	+2.2%
28	Oklahoma	66,967	+0.7%
29	Connecticut	63,314	+0.2%
30	Kentucky	61,917	+1%
31	Iowa	56,436	-0.2%
32	Nevada	53,623	+1.9%
33	Kansas	52,865	+0.8%
34	Arkansas	47,875	+1.2%
35	Idaho	41,589	+1.6%
36	Mississippi	41,438	+0.4%
37	Nebraska	40,134	+0.7%
38	New Mexico	31,579	+1.3%
39	Montana	30,773	+1.5%
40	Maine	30,735	+0.9%
41	New Hampshire	28,617	+0.2%
42	West Virginia	23,492	+0.2%
43	Hawaii	23,176	+0.8%
44	Rhode Island	22,225	+0.4%
45	South Dakota	21,106	+1.2%
46	Delaware	20,713	+2.4%
47	North Dakota	17,941	+1.3%
48	District of Columbia	17,380	+0.4%
49	Wyoming	17,326	+2.6%
50	Vermont	15,868	+0.7%
51	Alaska	14,857	+1.3%

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 and other activities outside the BDS scope. A firm operating in several states or counties is counted in each area, so geographic counts cannot be added to reproduce the national total. This differs from the INE DIRCE active-company count, which includes businesses without employees. Past values can be revised.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the states 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.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-10.

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Questions

Which state has the highest employer firms?

California, with 725,847 in 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which state has the lowest employer firms?

Alaska, with 14,857 in 2023.

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 2026-10-10.