US states by employer firms

Name: US states by employer firms, 2017
Creator: U.S. Census Bureau
License: Public domain (US federal government work, citation requested)

California had the highest employer firms of 51 states in 2017, at 652,550. Alaska had the lowest, at 13,983. The median was 68,265 and the figure for the United States was 5.25 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest652,550California

Lowest13,983Alaska

Median68,26551 states

United States5,246,978History

All states, 2017

CSV Chart (SVG)

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

Full ranking

Rank	States	2017 count	Change on 2016
1	California	652,550	+1.3%
2	New York	403,544	+0.1%
3	Texas	393,552	+1.3%
4	Florida	392,432	+1.7%
5	Illinois	220,926	-0.1%
6	Pennsylvania	207,435	-0.4%
7	New Jersey	171,470	-0.2%
8	Ohio	165,455	-0.7%
9	Georgia	157,642	+1.5%
10	North Carolina	157,390	+1.6%
11	Michigan	153,152	-0.1%
12	Virginia	136,793	+0.7%
13	Washington	134,096	+1.4%
14	Massachusetts	126,619	+0.6%
15	Colorado	118,012	+1.9%
16	Missouri	109,875	+0.1%
17	Minnesota	102,534	+0.3%
18	Indiana	98,667	+0.4%
19	Wisconsin	97,441	-0.3%
20	Maryland	97,218	+0.1%
21	Arizona	94,323	+1.7%
22	Tennessee	90,668	+0.8%
23	Oregon	83,732	+1.3%
24	South Carolina	74,383	+1.4%
25	Louisiana	73,558	-0.3%
26	Alabama	68,265	+0.3%
27	Oklahoma	65,408	-0.3%
28	Connecticut	63,601	-1.3%
29	Kentucky	61,789	-0.7%
30	Iowa	55,862	-0.1%
31	Utah	55,759	+2.3%
32	Kansas	52,300	-0.6%
33	Arkansas	45,819	+0.3%
34	Nevada	45,352	+1.4%
35	Mississippi	40,832	-0.3%
36	Nebraska	38,790	+0.6%
37	Idaho	34,111	+1.8%
38	New Mexico	30,944	-0.3%
39	Maine	29,147	+0.1%
40	Montana	27,795	+0.4%
41	New Hampshire	27,586	-0.5%
42	West Virginia	24,537	-1.6%
43	Hawaii	23,014	+0.2%
44	Rhode Island	21,552	+0.2%
45	South Dakota	19,803	+0.2%
46	Delaware	17,549	+0.3%
47	North Dakota	17,504	-1.2%
48	District of Columbia	16,569	+0.7%
49	Vermont	15,926	-0.4%
50	Wyoming	15,553	-0.2%
51	Alaska	13,983	-0.3%

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 652,550 in 2017, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which state has the lowest employer firms?

Alaska, with 13,983 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 2026-10-10.