Who publishes this
BusinessFormation.us is an independent publisher of U.S. business formation data and state-by-state guides to starting a business. It is written and edited by Muhammet Dikyurt.
Why this site exists
The Census Bureau publishes how many businesses Americans are starting, and it publishes how many already operate in each state and industry. The numbers are free, official, and almost unreadable if you are not already familiar with the datasets. Most pages that quote them either drop the source or quietly reshape the figure into something the source never said.
This site does the reading. It puts the real number next to the real question, names the dataset and the period it came from, and then explains the paperwork the number implies: what your state charges, what form it wants, and how long it takes.
How the numbers get here
Every figure comes from the U.S. Census Bureau and is retrieved by a script at build time, not typed in by hand. Each one carries its dataset, its period or reference year, and the date it was retrieved. Where the Census does not publish something, the site says so instead of estimating it. The full method, including the known limits of each dataset, is on the methodology page.
How the site is funded
Filing guides link to Northwest Registered Agent, and a signup through those links may earn a commission. The price is the same for you either way, and every state guide also gives the free do-it-yourself path with the state's own portal. Affiliate revenue pays for the site and has no influence on the statistics: the data pipeline reads Census sources only and runs the same whether or not anyone clicks. The full disclosure is on the methodology page.
What this site is not
- Not a government agency. BusinessFormation.us is an independent publisher and has no affiliation with the Census Bureau, the IRS, or any Secretary of State. Those agencies are named here only as sources and destinations.
- Not a filing service. The site does not file documents for you. It shows you the state's own process and links to the state's own portal.
- Not legal or tax advice. Fees, forms, and timelines change. Verify anything that matters against your state's official fee schedule before you file.
Corrections
A wrong number here is a bug, and reporting one is welcome. Write to hey@businessformation.us and it will be checked against the source series. Material corrections are noted on the page they affect.