Which US states start the most businesses? The 2025 numbers

In 2025, people across the United States filed 5,683,870 applications to start a business. Florida, California and Texas filed the most. Measured against population, two small states lead by a wide margin: Wyoming and Delaware, where many companies register from out of state. These counts are our own, summed from the US Census Bureau’s Business Formation Statistics for 2025 and set against the Census Bureau’s 2024 population estimates.

Wyomingregistration haven134.9

Delawareregistration haven57.4

Florida27.7

Montana26.5

Colorado24.2

Georgia22.8

Washington, DC21.6

Utah20.8

Nevada19.9

New Mexico19.2

United States16.7

Wyoming, registration haven	134.9
Delaware, registration haven	57.4
Florida	27.7
Montana	26.5
Colorado	24.2
Georgia	22.8
Washington, DC	21.6
Utah	20.8
Nevada	19.9
New Mexico	19.2
United States	16.7

Wyoming and Delaware, where many companies register from out of state, tower over every other state.

Source: US Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics (2025) and Population Estimates (2024), TheCompanyIndex calculation

Which states filed the most business applications in 2025?

Florida led with 647,950 applications, ahead of California and Texas, even though California has far more people. The five busiest states filed about two in five of all applications in the country.

These are raw counts, so they track the size of each state’s economy. California, Texas and Florida are the three most populous states, and they sit at the top for the simple reason that more people file more applications. The more revealing measure divides by population.

Which states start the most businesses per person?

Per 1,000 residents, the order changes completely. The US rate was 16.7 applications per 1,000 people in 2025. Wyoming recorded 134.9, about eight times the national rate. Delaware followed at 57.4, then Florida at 27.7, Montana at 26.5 and Colorado at 24.2. At the other end, West Virginia was lowest at 9.4, with Maine at 10.2 and Rhode Island at 10.8.

Florida is the one large state near the top on both measures, first in total and third per person. Everywhere above it per capita is either a small state or the capital district.

Why do Wyoming and Delaware rank so high?

Because the Census counts an application in the state of its address, not where the company works. Wyoming and Delaware are the most popular states in which to register a company from elsewhere, through a registered agent, for their business-friendly law and privacy. Many of their filings come from founders who live and operate in other states.

That makes the per-capita figure for these two a measure of where companies register, far more than a measure of their own residents. Wyoming’s 79,260 applications in 2025 against a population of 587,618 could not come from residents alone. The pattern is well known, and other per-capita rankings flag the same effect.

What counts as a business application?

A business application is an application for an Employer Identification Number, the IRS’s “federal tax ID number for businesses, tax-exempt organizations and other entities”. The Census builds its count from these filings. It calls Business Applications “the core business applications series that corresponds to a basic filtering of EIN applications”, and it leaves out estates, trusts, tax liens, certain financial filings, and any application with no state-county geocode. A founder files the same form, Form SS-4 for an EIN, that this series counts.

Do business applications mean new businesses?

No. An application is a request for a tax number, filed before a company hires anyone or earns a dollar. The Census reserves a separate term, a Business Formation, for “the formation of an employer (wage-paying) business from a business application”, which comes later and far less often. In our reading of the national series, only about 7.5 percent of a recent year’s applications had become employer businesses within two years. A high application count shows intent to start, and far fewer of those applications become running companies.

Where this ranking comes from

We summed the Census Bureau’s weekly, not-seasonally-adjusted business application series for each state across the 53 reporting weeks of 2025. As a check, the 51 state and DC totals add up to 5,683,870, exactly the figure in the Census Bureau’s national file for the same period. We then divided each state’s total by its July 1, 2024 population, from the Census Bureau’s Vintage 2024 estimates, and multiplied by 1,000. Anyone can repeat the calculation from the two public files.

Add your company to the Index

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What this page could not check

• A business application is not an operating business. The data cannot say which applications led to a real company, and only a fraction become employer businesses.
• The per-capita leaders, Wyoming and Delaware, are inflated by out-of-state registrations. A filing is counted in the state of its address, so these rates overstate how much their own residents start businesses.
• We paired 2025 applications with July 1, 2024 population estimates, the latest full vintage, so the rates mix two reference points by a few months.
• The weekly series is not seasonally adjusted, and 2025 carried 53 reporting weeks. The series excludes US territories and filings with no state-county geocode.
• Each figure is due for a check after May 1, 2027, when newer applications and population estimates are out.

Sources

• US Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics, weekly not-seasonally-adjusted state and national business application files, data through 2026, read November 1, 2026.
• US Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics, “About the Data”, “Definitions” and “Methodology” pages, read November 1, 2026.
• US Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2024 state totals (July 1, 2024), read November 1, 2026.
• Internal Revenue Service, “Employer Identification Number”, last reviewed July 17, 2026.