Data / Rankings / Establishment entry rate / Counties in Kentucky

Counties in Kentucky by establishment entry rate

Spencer County had the highest establishment entry rate of 119 counties in 2017, at 15.55%. Metcalfe County had the lowest, at 3.54%. The median was 7.921% and the figure for Kentucky was 8.095%. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Keep it in a collection in your library.
Highest15.55Spencer County
Lowest3.54Metcalfe County
Median7.921119 counties
Kentucky8.095History

Map of counties, 2017

Adair County: 9.818 %Allen County: 6.987 %Anderson County: 7.488 %Ballard County: 8.439 %Barren County: 8.227 %Bath County: 10.236 %Bell County: 6.943 %Boone County: 8.767 %Bourbon County: 8.871 %Boyd County: 5.878 %Boyle County: 8.223 %Bracken County: 7.186 %Breathitt County: 7.111 %Breckinridge County: 6.729 %Bullitt County: 7.893 %Butler County: 8.824 %Caldwell County: 7.957 %Calloway County: 11.253 %Campbell County: 7.606 %Carlisle County: 7.229 %Carroll County: 8.92 %Carter County: 8.354 %Casey County: 5.797 %Christian County: 8.801 %Clark County: 6.975 %Clay County: 8.163 %Clinton County: 6.197 %Crittenden County: 11.726 %Cumberland County: 4.785 %Daviess County: 6.102 %Edmonson County: 10.092 %Elliott County: 6.122 %Estill County: 5.471 %Fayette County: 9.147 %Fleming County: 10.427 %Floyd County: 7.138 %Franklin County: 6.636 %Fulton County: 9.302 %Gallatin County: 8.421 %Garrard County: 10.422 %Grant County: 12.257 %Graves County: 9.976 %Grayson County: 5.479 %Green County: 8.209 %Greenup County: 7.921 %Hancock County: 6.731 %Hardin County: 6.022 %Harlan County: 6.021 %Harrison County: 5.416 %Hart County: 10.832 %Henderson County: 7.032 %Henry County: 9.429 %Hickman County: 7.519 %Hopkins County: 5.956 %Jackson County: 11.364 %Jefferson County: 7.937 %Jessamine County: 10.521 %Johnson County: 6.319 %Kenton County: 7.98 %Knott County: 11.576 %Knox County: 7.983 %Larue County: 9.291 %Laurel County: 8.019 %Lawrence County: 10.784 %Lee County: 5.405 %Leslie County: 8.295 %Letcher County: 7.119 %Lewis County: 6.612 %Lincoln County: 7.547 %Livingston County: 13.768 %Logan County: 7.113 %Lyon County: 7.097 %McCracken County: 7.54 %McCreary County: 8.36 %McLean County: 6.061 %Madison County: 7.967 %Magoffin County: 8.392 %Marion County: 5.643 %Marshall County: 9.713 %Martin County: 11.679 %Mason County: 7.481 %Meade County: 9.188 %Menifee County: 5.825 %Mercer County: 9.119 %Metcalfe County: 3.54 %Monroe County: 5.168 %Montgomery County: 6.851 %Morgan County: 10.323 %Muhlenberg County: 8.403 %Nelson County: 8.414 %Nicholas County: 5.97 %Ohio County: 7.552 %Oldham County: 9.334 %Owen County: 8.772 %Owsley County: 6.897 %Pendleton County: 7.869 %Perry County: 5.156 %Pike County: 7.033 %Powell County: 7.074 %Pulaski County: 6.484 %Robertson County: 14.286 %Rockcastle County: 5.995 %Rowan County: 8.075 %Russell County: 4.355 %Scott County: 9.382 %Shelby County: 9.674 %Simpson County: 9.769 %Spencer County: 15.55 %Taylor County: 7.352 %Todd County: 5.319 %Trigg County: 5.43 %Union County: 6.794 %Warren County: 8.286 %Washington County: 6.536 %Wayne County: 6.576 %Webster County: 8.142 %Whitley County: 7.958 %Wolfe County: 4.762 %Woodford County: 10.159 %
  • Under 6
  • 6 to 7
  • 7 to 7.9
  • 7.9 to 8.4
  • 8.4 to 9.8
  • 9.8 and over
  • No data
%, 2017. Hatched areas have no value for this period. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Business Dynamics Statistics: establishment entry rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

Top 40 counties, 2017

Spencer County: 15.55 %Spencer County15.55Robertson County: 14.286 %Robertson County14.286Livingston County: 13.768 %Livingston County13.768Grant County: 12.257 %Grant County12.257Crittenden County: 11.726 %Crittenden County11.726Martin County: 11.679 %Martin County11.679Knott County: 11.576 %Knott County11.576Jackson County: 11.364 %Jackson County11.364Calloway County: 11.253 %Calloway County11.253Hart County: 10.832 %Hart County10.832Lawrence County: 10.784 %Lawrence County10.784Jessamine County: 10.521 %Jessamine County10.521Fleming County: 10.427 %Fleming County10.427Garrard County: 10.422 %Garrard County10.422Morgan County: 10.323 %Morgan County10.323Bath County: 10.236 %Bath County10.236Woodford County: 10.159 %Woodford County10.159Edmonson County: 10.092 %Edmonson County10.092Graves County: 9.976 %Graves County9.976Adair County: 9.818 %Adair County9.818Simpson County: 9.769 %Simpson County9.769Marshall County: 9.713 %Marshall County9.713Shelby County: 9.674 %Shelby County9.674Henry County: 9.429 %Henry County9.429Scott County: 9.382 %Scott County9.382Oldham County: 9.334 %Oldham County9.334Fulton County: 9.302 %Fulton County9.302Larue County: 9.291 %Larue County9.291Meade County: 9.188 %Meade County9.188Fayette County: 9.147 %Fayette County9.147Mercer County: 9.119 %Mercer County9.119Carroll County: 8.92 %Carroll County8.92Bourbon County: 8.871 %Bourbon County8.871Butler County: 8.824 %Butler County8.824Christian County: 8.801 %Christian County8.801Owen County: 8.772 %Owen County8.772Boone County: 8.767 %Boone County8.767Ballard County: 8.439 %Ballard County8.439Gallatin County: 8.421 %Gallatin County8.421Nelson County: 8.414 %Nelson County8.414Spencer County: 15.55 %Spencer County15.55Robertson County: 14.286 %Robertson County14.286Livingston County: 13.768 %Livingston County13.768Grant County: 12.257 %Grant County12.257Crittenden County: 11.726 %Crittenden County11.726Martin County: 11.679 %Martin County11.679Knott County: 11.576 %Knott County11.576Jackson County: 11.364 %Jackson County11.364Calloway County: 11.253 %Calloway County11.253Hart County: 10.832 %Hart County10.832Lawrence County: 10.784 %Lawrence County10.784Jessamine County: 10.521 %Jessamine County10.521Fleming County: 10.427 %Fleming County10.427Garrard County: 10.422 %Garrard County10.422Morgan County: 10.323 %Morgan County10.323Bath County: 10.236 %Bath County10.236Woodford County: 10.159 %Woodford County10.159Edmonson County: 10.092 %Edmonson County10.092Graves County: 9.976 %Graves County9.976Adair County: 9.818 %Adair County9.818Simpson County: 9.769 %Simpson County9.769Marshall County: 9.713 %Marshall County9.713Shelby County: 9.674 %Shelby County9.674Henry County: 9.429 %Henry County9.429Scott County: 9.382 %Scott County9.382Oldham County: 9.334 %Oldham County9.334Fulton County: 9.302 %Fulton County9.302Larue County: 9.291 %Larue County9.291Meade County: 9.188 %Meade County9.188Fayette County: 9.147 %Fayette County9.147Mercer County: 9.119 %Mercer County9.119Carroll County: 8.92 %Carroll County8.92Bourbon County: 8.871 %Bourbon County8.871Butler County: 8.824 %Butler County8.824Christian County: 8.801 %Christian County8.801Owen County: 8.772 %Owen County8.772Boone County: 8.767 %Boone County8.767Ballard County: 8.439 %Ballard County8.439Gallatin County: 8.421 %Gallatin County8.421Nelson County: 8.414 %Nelson County8.414
%. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Business Dynamics Statistics: establishment entry rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCounties2017 (%)Change on 2016
1Spencer County15.55+5.61 pts
2Robertson County14.286-6.23 pts
3Livingston County13.768+9.32 pts
4Grant County12.257+2.96 pts
5Crittenden County11.726+3.03 pts
6Martin County11.679+6.73 pts
7Knott County11.576-1.8 pts
8Jackson County11.364+2.17 pts
9Calloway County11.253+3.41 pts
10Hart County10.832+1.53 pts
11Lawrence County10.784+3.38 pts
12Jessamine County10.521+1.77 pts
13Fleming County10.427+2.83 pts
14Garrard County10.422+1.9 pts
15Morgan County10.323+1.77 pts
16Bath County10.236+3.89 pts
17Woodford County10.159-0.37 pts
18Edmonson County10.092+3.64 pts
19Graves County9.976+2.61 pts
20Adair County9.818+3.12 pts
21Simpson County9.769+0.65 pts
22Marshall County9.713+2.9 pts
23Shelby County9.674+2.67 pts
24Henry County9.429+0.09 pts
25Scott County9.382-1.69 pts
26Oldham County9.334-1.53 pts
27Fulton County9.302+3 pts
28Larue County9.291-2 pts
29Meade County9.188+2.3 pts
30Fayette County9.147-0.4 pts
31Mercer County9.119+3.88 pts
32Carroll County8.92+3.77 pts
33Bourbon County8.871-1.51 pts
34Butler County8.824+4.21 pts
35Christian County8.801+0.04 pts
36Owen County8.772+1.66 pts
37Boone County8.767-0.44 pts
38Ballard County8.439+5.06 pts
39Gallatin County8.421-0.91 pts
40Nelson County8.414+1.64 pts
41Muhlenberg County8.403-0.4 pts
42Magoffin County8.392+4.43 pts
43McCreary County8.36-1.49 pts
44Carter County8.354+0.29 pts
45Leslie County8.295-4.61 pts
46Warren County8.286+0.2 pts
47Barren County8.227+0.54 pts
48Boyle County8.223+1.33 pts
49Green County8.209+0.96 pts
50Clay County8.163+2.45 pts
51Webster County8.142-2.19 pts
52Rowan County8.075+1.19 pts
53Laurel County8.019+1.34 pts
54Knox County7.983+2.26 pts
55Kenton County7.98-0.42 pts
56Madison County7.967-0.59 pts
57Whitley County7.958-0.05 pts
58Caldwell County7.957-0.79 pts
59Jefferson County7.937-0.65 pts
60Greenup County7.921+2.54 pts
61Bullitt County7.893-2.22 pts
62Pendleton County7.869+2.04 pts
63Campbell County7.606-1.17 pts
64Ohio County7.552-0.66 pts
65Lincoln County7.547-1.06 pts
66McCracken County7.54+0.64 pts
67Hickman County7.519-1.44 pts
68Anderson County7.488+0.45 pts
69Mason County7.481+3.28 pts
70Taylor County7.352-1.59 pts
71Carlisle County7.229-0.09 pts
72Bracken County7.186-5.01 pts
73Floyd County7.138+0.78 pts
74Letcher County7.119-1.76 pts
75Logan County7.113-2.64 pts
76Breathitt County7.111-3.23 pts
77Lyon County7.097-5.44 pts
78Powell County7.074+1.47 pts
79Pike County7.033+1.22 pts
80Henderson County7.032+1.41 pts
81Allen County6.987-0.49 pts
82Clark County6.975-0.81 pts
83Bell County6.943+0.36 pts
84Owsley County6.897-14.28 pts
85Montgomery County6.851-1.89 pts
86Union County6.794+1.8 pts
87Hancock County6.731+2.79 pts
88Breckinridge County6.729+2.47 pts
89Franklin County6.636-0.12 pts
90Lewis County6.612+0.92 pts
91Wayne County6.576+0.05 pts
92Washington County6.536-0.05 pts
93Pulaski County6.484-1.12 pts
94Johnson County6.319-0.56 pts
95Clinton County6.197-3.86 pts
96Elliott County6.122n/a
97Daviess County6.102-3.95 pts
98McLean County6.061-1.82 pts
99Hardin County6.022-1.48 pts
100Harlan County6.021-1.88 pts
101Rockcastle County5.995-1.92 pts
102Nicholas County5.97-1.28 pts
103Hopkins County5.956-1.33 pts
104Boyd County5.878-0.13 pts
105Menifee County5.825-1.94 pts
106Casey County5.797-1.18 pts
107Marion County5.643-2.72 pts
108Grayson County5.479-1.49 pts
109Estill County5.471-6.61 pts
110Trigg County5.43-5.78 pts
111Harrison County5.416+1.61 pts
112Lee County5.405-0.91 pts
113Todd County5.319-3.87 pts
114Monroe County5.168-4.73 pts
115Perry County5.156-3.89 pts
116Cumberland County4.785-4.83 pts
117Wolfe County4.762-9.3 pts
118Russell County4.355-2.8 pts
119Metcalfe County3.54-10.81 pts

Other periods

About this ranking

Establishments that opened during the year (employees in March of the year and none a year earlier), as a percentage of the average number of establishments in the two years. United States: Census Bureau Business Dynamics Statistics.

An establishment is a single physical location, so a new branch of an existing firm counts as an entry: this is not the rate of new firms. Not comparable with enterprise_birth_rate, which counts new enterprises in Europe. The year is the twelve months to March: 2023 compares March 2022 with March 2023.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the counties are compared on one definition. 1 counties with data in other periods have no value for 2017 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Census Bureau. Business Dynamics Statistics: establishment entry rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

U.S. Census Bureau. (2025). Business Dynamics Statistics: establishment entry rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010 (Counties in Kentucky by establishment entry rate, 2017) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv

MLA 9

Business Dynamics Statistics: establishment entry rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010, Counties in Kentucky by establishment entry rate, 2017. U.S. Census Bureau, 25 Sept. 2025, https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/establishment-entry-rate/kentucky-counties?period=2017. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2025. Business Dynamics Statistics: establishment entry rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. Counties in Kentucky by establishment entry rate, 2017. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/establishment-entry-rate/kentucky-counties?period=2017.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2025) Business Dynamics Statistics: establishment entry rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010, Counties in Kentucky by establishment entry rate, 2017 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/establishment-entry-rate/kentucky-counties?period=2017 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{census_counties_in_kentucky_by_2017,
  author = {{U.S. Census Bureau}},
  title = {{Business Dynamics Statistics: establishment entry rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010: Counties in Kentucky by establishment entry rate, 2017}},
  year = {2025},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/establishment-entry-rate/kentucky-counties?period=2017. Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Business Dynamics Statistics: establishment entry rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023\_st\_cty.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Census Bureau
TI  - Business Dynamics Statistics: establishment entry rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010: Counties in Kentucky by establishment entry rate, 2017
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/09/25
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/establishment-entry-rate/kentucky-counties?period=2017
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/establishment-entry-rate/kentucky-counties?period=2017.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Business Dynamics Statistics: establishment entry rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

Rank Counties in Kentucky by establishment entry rate using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"establishment_entry_rate","level":"province","within":"Kentucky","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=establishment_entry_rate&level=province&within=Kentucky&limit=10

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

Which county has the highest establishment entry rate?

Spencer County, with 15.55% in 2017, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which county has the lowest establishment entry rate?

Metcalfe County, with 3.54% 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: establishment entry rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. Retrieved 2026-10-12. 1 counties have no value for 2017 and are not ranked.

Establishment entry rate: other rankings

Counties in Kentucky: more rankings