US Counties With the Highest Business Establishments

3,142 US counties ranked by business establishments, from highest to lowest. First are Bristol Bay Borough, AK (95.67), San Juan County, CO (88.41) and Teton County, WY (81.90). The middle one of the 3,142 has 20.14.

What this measures

Business locations with paid employees in March, from the Census Bureau's list of businesses. Each location counts once, so a chain's stores count separately. Source: Census Business Dynamics Statistics.

This is a count, so it is ranked per 1,000 residents. Ranked by the raw total, it would just list the biggest counties.

For most measures, a national ranking mostly sorts places by income and by how urban they are. Each county’s own page compares it with the 50 counties most like it instead, which is often the fairer view.

The 100 highest counties

Rank	County	Per 1,000 residents
1	Bristol Bay Borough, AK	95.67
2	San Juan County, CO	88.41
3	Teton County, WY	81.90
4	Pitkin County, CO	78.51
5	San Miguel County, CO	74.51
6	Nantucket County, MA	72.17
7	Mineral County, CO	66.33
8	Fairfax city, VA	65.08
9	Routt County, CO	62.02
10	McMullen County, TX	61.00
11	Sheridan County, WY	59.87
12	Blaine County, ID	59.12
13	Summit County, CO	58.72
14	Gunnison County, CO	56.59
15	Skagway Municipality, AK	56.57
16	Falls Church city, VA	55.37
17	Summit County, UT	55.12
18	Norton city, VA	54.97
19	Eagle County, CO	54.10
20	Ouray County, CO	53.54
21	Garfield County, NE	51.20
22	Grand County, CO	50.97
23	New York County, NY	50.52
24	Grand County, UT	50.43
25	Brown County, NE	50.02
26	Valley County, ID	49.93
27	Dukes County, MA	49.49
28	Haines Borough, AK	49.11
29	Johnson County, WY	48.83
30	Dare County, NC	48.60
31	Fredericksburg city, VA	48.06
32	Hinsdale County, CO	47.92
33	San Juan County, WA	47.85
34	Chaffee County, CO	47.19
35	Lake and Peninsula Borough, AK	46.67
36	Gallatin County, MT	46.00
37	Winchester city, VA	45.92
38	Ness County, KS	45.88
39	Bowman County, ND	45.66
40	Lane County, KS	45.42
41	Galax city, VA	45.09
42	Teton County, ID	44.79
43	Monroe County, FL	44.65
44	Renville County, ND	44.36
45	Daniels County, MT	43.96
46	Sublette County, WY	43.83
47	Yakutat City and Borough, AK	43.48
48	Petersburg Borough, AK	43.31
49	Billings County, ND	43.25
50	Cook County, MN	42.25
51	McIntosh County, ND	42.20
52	Charlottesville city, VA	41.89
53	Haakon County, SD	41.57
54	Valley County, NE	41.52
55	Gove County, KS	41.49
56	Gregory County, SD	41.32
57	Lawrence County, SD	41.24
58	Emmet County, MI	41.10
59	Sweet Grass County, MT	40.94
60	Perkins County, NE	40.92
61	Park County, MT	40.89
62	Trego County, KS	40.68
63	Wichita County, KS	40.66
64	Irion County, TX	40.50
65	Gillespie County, TX	40.47
66	Wallowa County, OR	40.36
67	Comanche County, KS	40.36
68	Phillips County, KS	40.21
69	Sherman County, KS	40.21
70	Rich County, UT	40.19
71	Fallon County, MT	39.76
72	Richland County, MT	39.72
73	Holt County, NE	39.53
74	Mono County, CA	39.26
75	Sully County, SD	39.16
76	Thayer County, NE	38.88
77	Emporia city, VA	38.88
78	Flathead County, MT	38.82
79	Park County, WY	38.59
80	Hood River County, OR	38.57
81	Sheridan County, KS	38.49
82	Dunn County, ND	38.34
83	Wayne County, UT	38.33
84	Wells County, ND	38.31
85	Dickinson County, IA	38.28
86	Lincoln County, WY	38.25
87	Brule County, SD	38.21
88	Hand County, SD	38.10
89	Lancaster County, VA	37.97
90	Foster County, ND	37.96
91	Storey County, NV	37.93
92	Chase County, NE	37.92
93	Gray County, KS	37.92
94	Knox County, ME	37.89
95	La Plata County, CO	37.83
96	Pratt County, KS	37.83
97	Barber County, KS	37.80
98	Thomas County, KS	37.79
99	Codington County, SD	37.51
100	Williams County, ND	37.31

Every state, highest first

Each state’s own published figure, not an average of its counties.

Rank	State	Per 1,000 residents
1	Wyoming	35.22
2	Montana	33.14
3	District of Columbia	32.85
4	North Dakota	29.41
5	Vermont	29.11
6	South Dakota	29.02
7	Maine	27.80
8	Colorado	27.42
9	Idaho	26.58
10	Oregon	26.20
11	Nebraska	26.08
12	New Hampshire	25.91
13	Florida	25.79
14	Alaska	25.71
15	Delaware	25.40
16	Utah	24.69
17	Rhode Island	24.30
18	New York	24.22
19	Minnesota	23.89
20	Kansas	23.84
21	Massachusetts	23.82
22	Iowa	23.71
23	Washington	23.13
24	New Jersey	23.09
25	California	23.02
26	Connecticut	22.64
27	Illinois	22.57
28	Wisconsin	22.42
29	Missouri	22.38
30	Virginia	22.14
31	North Carolina	22.02
32	Oklahoma	22.01
33	Pennsylvania	21.77
34	Nevada	21.71
35	Louisiana	21.64
36	Georgia	21.46
37	South Carolina	21.36
38	Arkansas	21.28
39	Indiana	20.96
40	Maryland	20.95
41	Hawaii	20.79
42	Michigan	20.55
43	Texas	20.47
44	Ohio	19.90
45	Tennessee	19.82
46	Arizona	19.66
47	Alabama	19.44
48	New Mexico	19.34
49	Kentucky	19.23
50	Mississippi	19.05
51	West Virginia	18.69

More on business establishments

A ranking describes places, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All US rankings.