US states by employer firms

Name: US states by employer firms, 2013
Creator: U.S. Census Bureau
License: Public domain (US federal government work, citation requested)

California had the highest employer firms of 51 states in 2013, at 612,090. Alaska had the lowest, at 13,799. The median was 67,615 and the figure for the United States was 5.06 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest612,090California

Lowest13,799Alaska

Median67,61551 states

United States5,064,208History

All states, 2013

CSV Chart (SVG)

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

Full ranking

Rank	States	2013 count	Change on 2012
1	California	612,090	+0.9%
2	New York	394,909	+0.7%
3	Texas	369,218	+1.7%
4	Florida	362,091	+1.7%
5	Illinois	218,219	-0.1%
6	Pennsylvania	207,558	-0.3%
7	New Jersey	171,131	+0.2%
8	Ohio	167,458	-0.7%
9	Michigan	151,231	-0.2%
10	North Carolina	149,525	+0.1%
11	Georgia	148,978	+0.7%
12	Virginia	133,192	+0.3%
13	Washington	125,777	+1%
14	Massachusetts	122,580	+0.3%
15	Colorado	108,949	+1.5%
16	Missouri	103,076	+1.9%
17	Minnesota	100,279	0%
18	Indiana	98,013	-0.6%
19	Wisconsin	96,130	-0.7%
20	Maryland	95,774	+0.1%
21	Arizona	88,748	+0.9%
22	Tennessee	88,671	+0.1%
23	Oregon	78,342	+1%
24	Louisiana	73,987	0%
25	South Carolina	70,682	+0.3%
26	Alabama	67,615	-0.6%
27	Oklahoma	65,520	+0.6%
28	Connecticut	64,187	-0.3%
29	Kentucky	61,693	+0.1%
30	Iowa	55,596	-1%
31	Kansas	52,254	-0.7%
32	Utah	50,854	+2.2%
33	Arkansas	45,563	-0.3%
34	Nevada	41,468	+1.3%
35	Mississippi	41,125	-0.6%
36	Nebraska	37,333	-0.1%
37	Idaho	31,490	+0.8%
38	New Mexico	31,461	-0.5%
39	Maine	28,125	-0.4%
40	New Hampshire	27,419	-0.3%
41	Montana	26,976	+0.7%
42	West Virginia	26,027	-2%
43	Hawaii	22,731	+0.2%
44	Rhode Island	21,068	-0.7%
45	South Dakota	19,315	+0.3%
46	North Dakota	17,345	+2.1%
47	Delaware	16,883	+0.1%
48	Vermont	15,934	-0.8%
49	District of Columbia	15,807	+1.1%
50	Wyoming	15,494	-0.4%
51	Alaska	13,799	+0.6%

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 612,090 in 2013, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which state has the lowest employer firms?

Alaska, with 13,799 in 2013.

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.