US states by employer firms

Name: US states by employer firms, 2014
Creator: U.S. Census Bureau
License: Public domain (US federal government work, citation requested)

California had the highest employer firms of 51 states in 2014, at 623,004. Alaska had the lowest, at 13,824. The median was 67,517 and the figure for the United States was 5.1 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest623,004California

Lowest13,824Alaska

Median67,51751 states

United States5,100,719History

All states, 2014

CSV Chart (SVG)

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

Full ranking

Rank	States	2014 count	Change on 2013
1	California	623,004	+1.8%
2	New York	397,272	+0.6%
3	Texas	376,035	+1.8%
4	Florida	368,185	+1.7%
5	Illinois	218,155	-0%
6	Pennsylvania	207,123	-0.2%
7	New Jersey	171,070	-0%
8	Ohio	166,713	-0.4%
9	Michigan	151,171	-0%
10	Georgia	150,245	+0.9%
11	North Carolina	149,938	+0.3%
12	Virginia	133,602	+0.3%
13	Washington	127,571	+1.4%
14	Massachusetts	123,279	+0.6%
15	Colorado	110,986	+1.9%
16	Missouri	105,296	+2.2%
17	Minnesota	100,792	+0.5%
18	Indiana	97,403	-0.6%
19	Wisconsin	96,169	0%
20	Maryland	95,934	+0.2%
21	Arizona	89,711	+1.1%
22	Tennessee	88,666	-0%
23	Oregon	79,364	+1.3%
24	Louisiana	74,023	0%
25	South Carolina	70,999	+0.4%
26	Alabama	67,517	-0.1%
27	Oklahoma	65,871	+0.5%
28	Connecticut	64,009	-0.3%
29	Kentucky	62,157	+0.8%
30	Iowa	55,497	-0.2%
31	Kansas	52,411	+0.3%
32	Utah	52,097	+2.4%
33	Arkansas	45,450	-0.2%
34	Nevada	42,492	+2.5%
35	Mississippi	41,087	-0.1%
36	Nebraska	37,790	+1.2%
37	Idaho	32,211	+2.3%
38	New Mexico	31,290	-0.5%
39	Maine	28,224	+0.4%
40	New Hampshire	27,350	-0.3%
41	Montana	27,116	+0.5%
42	West Virginia	25,509	-2%
43	Hawaii	22,708	-0.1%
44	Rhode Island	20,980	-0.4%
45	South Dakota	19,366	+0.3%
46	North Dakota	17,707	+2.1%
47	Delaware	16,977	+0.6%
48	District of Columbia	15,968	+1%
49	Vermont	15,921	-0.1%
50	Wyoming	15,530	+0.2%
51	Alaska	13,824	+0.2%

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 623,004 in 2014, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which state has the lowest employer firms?

Alaska, with 13,824 in 2014.

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.