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The Business Formation Statistics (BFS) are a standard data product of the U.S. Census Bureau developed in research collaboration with economists affiliated with
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, University of Maryland, and University of Notre Dame. The BFS provide
timely and high frequency information on new business applications and formations in the United States.
Monthly Report
Business Formation Statistics will be provided monthly at the national, regional, and state levels.
The December 2021 Business Formations Statistics Report was released on January 12, 2022 at 10:00 a.m., and is available as:
The Business Formation Statistics data for December 2021 are also available in the csv file and data visualization below. For help with using the file, please visit the BFS Monthly Data Dictionary and the
month date csv file.
July 2004 - present (Adjusted and Not Adjusted): CSV [2,140 KB]
Time Series/Trend Charts: Use this link to access all Business Application series and Business Formation Series at both U.S. and State levels to create
customizable time series. For detailed instructions on using this Time Series/Trend Charts
application, please visit the Technical Documentation.
Weekly Data
Weekly data on Business Applications, Not Seasonally Adjusted are provided at the national, regional, and state levels. The weekly data are available in the csv files below. For help with using the CSV files,
please visit the BFS Weekly Data Dictionary and the
week date csv file.
Business Applications by County data will be provided annually.
Business Applications data by county for 2005-2020 were
released on July 1, 2021 and are available in the Excel file and data visualization below. For help with using the file,
please visit the BFS County Data Dictionary.
Notice: As of December 8, 2021, the monthly Business Formation Statistics is a standard data product.
Notice: The High-Propensity Business Application definition has been revised to the following: a) from a corporate entity,
(b) that indicate they are hiring employees, (c) that provide a first wages-paid date (planned wages); or (d) that have a NAICS industry code in
accommodation and food services (72) or in portions of construction (237, 238), manufacturing (312, 321, 322, 332), retail (44, 452), professional,
scientific, and technical services (5411, 5413), educational services (6111), and health care (621, 623). For more details on this process, our most
recent revision, and our linking approach of the previous and revised definition, please see our methodology.
Notice: The latest annual update was applied during the October 2021 monthly release. During the annual update, underlying
NAICS codes are revised each year for the previous five years when more accurate and detailed NAICS codes may be available from administrative sources.
The Formation series are updated annually to revise information on business formations (firm births) from the Business Dynamic Statistics (BDS) program.
Also, seasonal factors are recomputed and applied during the annual update, resulting in revisions to our seasonally adjusted series.
Notice: Annual Business Applications by County was released on July 1, 2021. This annual release adds data for 2020
and incorporates revisions to the underlying NAICS code assignment methodology for previously published annual county counts.
FRED Mobile App: Receive the latest updates on the nation's key economic indicators by downloading the
FRED App for both
Apple and Android devices. FRED, the signature database of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, now incorporates the Census Bureau's 13
economic indicators.
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[Excel] or the letters [xls] indicate a document is in the Microsoft® Excel® Spreadsheet Format (XLS). To view the file, you will need the Microsoft® Excel® Viewer available for free from Microsoft®.
Time Series/Trend Charts: Use this link to access all Business Application series and Business Formation Series at both U.S. and State levels to create
customizable time series. For detailed instructions on using this Time Series/Trend Charts
application, please visit the Technical Documentation.
denotes a file in Adobe’s Portable Document Format. To view the file, you will need the Adobe® Reader® 
available free from Adobe.
[Excel] or the letters [xls] indicate a document is in the Microsoft® Excel® Spreadsheet Format (XLS). To view the file, you will need the Microsoft® Excel® Viewer