US states by employer firms

Name: US states by employer firms, 2020
Creator: U.S. Census Bureau
License: Public domain (US federal government work, citation requested)

California had the highest employer firms of 51 states in 2020, at 685,122. Alaska had the lowest, at 14,106. The median was 68,371 and the figure for the United States was 5.34 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest685,122California

Lowest14,106Alaska

Median68,37151 states

United States5,335,214History

All states, 2020

CSV Chart (SVG)

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

Full ranking

Rank	States	2020 count	Change on 2019
1	California	685,122	+1.9%
2	Texas	411,932	+1.1%
3	Florida	411,656	+1.1%
4	New York	397,641	-1.8%
5	Illinois	218,378	-0.9%
6	Pennsylvania	207,745	-0.4%
7	New Jersey	171,064	-0.8%
8	North Carolina	163,706	+0.9%
9	Georgia	163,651	+0.9%
10	Ohio	163,514	-0.9%
11	Michigan	151,711	-1%
12	Virginia	138,570	-0.1%
13	Washington	137,435	-0.4%
14	Massachusetts	127,975	-0.1%
15	Colorado	122,309	+0.3%
16	Missouri	103,169	-1.1%
17	Minnesota	101,637	-0.4%
18	Arizona	98,832	+1.3%
19	Indiana	98,704	-0.5%
20	Maryland	97,573	-0.4%
21	Wisconsin	97,028	-0.5%
22	Tennessee	92,487	+0.4%
23	Oregon	85,853	+0.2%
24	South Carolina	77,253	+0.6%
25	Louisiana	73,168	-0.9%
26	Alabama	68,371	-0.5%
27	Oklahoma	65,331	-0.8%
28	Connecticut	62,457	-1%
29	Kentucky	60,433	-1.1%
30	Utah	60,297	+2.1%
31	Iowa	55,939	-0.4%
32	Kansas	51,415	-0.9%
33	Nevada	48,276	+1.8%
34	Arkansas	46,088	-0.2%
35	Mississippi	40,403	-0.9%
36	Nebraska	38,700	-0.1%
37	Idaho	37,605	+2.5%
38	New Mexico	30,791	-0.8%
39	Maine	29,565	+0.1%
40	Montana	28,744	+1.2%
41	New Hampshire	27,860	-0.2%
42	West Virginia	23,449	-2.5%
43	Hawaii	23,022	-1.3%
44	Rhode Island	21,607	-0.2%
45	South Dakota	20,029	+0.4%
46	Delaware	18,959	+4.9%
47	North Dakota	17,505	-0.1%
48	District of Columbia	16,904	-0.1%
49	Wyoming	16,054	+1.2%
50	Vermont	15,561	-1.1%
51	Alaska	14,106	-0%

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 685,122 in 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which state has the lowest employer firms?

Alaska, with 14,106 in 2020.

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.