Business Formation Statistics November 2024
December 11, 2024 — The U.S. Census Bureau announced the following seasonally adjusted business application and formation statistics for November 2024. The Business Application Series describe the business applications for tax IDs as indicated by applications for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) through filings of the IRS Form SS-4. The Business Formation Series describe employer business formations as indicated by the first instance of payroll tax liabilities for the corresponding business applications.
Business Applications
Business Applications for November 2024, adjusted for seasonal variation, were 448,758, an increase of 5.5 percent compared to October 2024.
Business Formations
Projected Business Formations (within 4 quarters) for November 2024, adjusted for seasonal variation, were 27,960, an increase of 3.6 percent compared to October 2024. The projected business formations are forward looking, providing an estimate of the number of new business startups that will appear from the cohort of business applications in a given month. It does not provide an estimate of the total number of business startups that appeared within a specific month. In other words, the Census Bureau is projecting that 27,960 new business startups with payroll tax liabilities will form within 4 quarters of application from all the business applications filed during November 2024. The 3.6 percent increase indicates that for November 2024 there will be 3.6 percent more businesses projected to form within 4 quarters of application, compared to the analogous projections for October 2024. Statistics on actual business formations are available up to the latest quarter for which administrative data identifies employer business startup activity based on first payroll observation, currently the fourth quarter of 2022. Given the forward-looking nature of business formations, the Census Bureau can only state actual business formations within 4 quarters up to December 2021, and business formations within 8 quarters up to December 2020. Projected business formations within 4 quarters start in January 2022 and projected business formations within 8 quarters start in January 2021 and both end in November 2024.
The most recent quarter for which administrative data on payroll is available is updated annually in the twelfth month based on new data on actual business formations.
Release Schedule
The December 2024 Business Formation Statistics Report is scheduled for release on January 10, 2025. View the full schedule in the Economic Briefing Room: https://www.census.gov/economic-indicators/. Further information on BFS, including additional series and the full time span of the series listed above, can be found at https://www.census.gov/econ/bfs.
