Florida is a national leader in new business creation

April 20th, 2021

The Southeast is a leader in new business starts.

Floridian’s apparently can see the sun come out amid an arduous time like the pandemic. One shining example: the state is a national leader in business creations in February, according to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data from data marketing firm TOP.

Residents in Florida founded 50,972 businesses in February. That’s 10,000 more than the No. 2 state, California, and 15,000 more than No. 3 Texas. It’s also up 46.5% year-over-year from February 2029, when Florida was home to 34,79 businesses. Only 11 other states reported more than 10,000 new business starts, and of those, the report shows, four surpassed 20,000.

To some extent, the report shows new business tallies is a Southern thing, if not in total in volume then in annual gains. Mississippi had the largest annual increase, up 103% to 5,022 firms. Louisiana posted an 88.2% increase while Georgia was up 82.2%, for No. 2 and No. 3, respectively in percentage gains. Alabama at 72%, South Carolina at 69.3% and North Carolina at  64.1% are all in the top 7 in percentage gains.

First in Florida

Other data from the TOP agency business creation survey includes:

39.4%: Year-over-year percentage increase in business creation nationwide;

423,000: Number of businesses created in February 2021;

49: Number of states that experienced an increase in business applications in February 2021 compared to the same period last year. (Alaska was -2.8.)