US states by employer firms

Name: US states by employer firms, 2019
Creator: U.S. Census Bureau
License: Public domain (US federal government work, citation requested)

California had the highest employer firms of 51 states in 2019, at 672,173. Alaska had the lowest, at 14,113. The median was 68,736 and the figure for the United States was 5.33 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest672,173California

Lowest14,113Alaska

Median68,73651 states

United States5,330,349History

All states, 2019

CSV Chart (SVG)

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

Full ranking

Rank	States	2019 count	Change on 2018
1	California	672,173	+1.6%
2	Texas	407,546	+2%
3	Florida	407,354	+2%
4	New York	404,870	+0.3%
5	Illinois	220,416	-0.1%
6	Pennsylvania	208,529	+0.6%
7	New Jersey	172,394	+0.6%
8	Ohio	164,973	+0.1%
9	North Carolina	162,204	+1.5%
10	Georgia	162,157	+1.5%
11	Michigan	153,178	-0.2%
12	Virginia	138,709	+1%
13	Washington	137,952	+1%
14	Massachusetts	128,122	+0.8%
15	Colorado	121,912	+1.4%
16	Missouri	104,315	+0.3%
17	Minnesota	102,019	-0.1%
18	Indiana	99,194	+0.1%
19	Maryland	98,013	+0.5%
20	Arizona	97,589	+1.7%
21	Wisconsin	97,506	-0%
22	Tennessee	92,103	+0.8%
23	Oregon	85,701	+0.6%
24	South Carolina	76,776	+1.5%
25	Louisiana	73,814	+0.3%
26	Alabama	68,736	+0.7%
27	Oklahoma	65,827	+0.6%
28	Connecticut	63,081	-0.1%
29	Kentucky	61,101	+0.5%
30	Utah	59,035	+2.7%
31	Iowa	56,154	-0.2%
32	Kansas	51,867	-0.4%
33	Nevada	47,421	+1.8%
34	Arkansas	46,188	+0.6%
35	Mississippi	40,790	-0%
36	Nebraska	38,739	+0.1%
37	Idaho	36,699	+3.8%
38	New Mexico	31,046	+0.5%
39	Maine	29,529	+0.7%
40	Montana	28,394	+1%
41	New Hampshire	27,927	+0.8%
42	West Virginia	24,055	-0.3%
43	Hawaii	23,326	+0.7%
44	Rhode Island	21,647	+0.6%
45	South Dakota	19,949	+0.3%
46	Delaware	18,082	+1.7%
47	North Dakota	17,526	+0.7%
48	District of Columbia	16,918	+0.7%
49	Wyoming	15,867	+0.8%
50	Vermont	15,739	-0.7%
51	Alaska	14,113	+0.4%

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 672,173 in 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which state has the lowest employer firms?

Alaska, with 14,113 in 2019.

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.