See where aspiring entrepreneurs are showing the most interest in starting a business, ranked

See where aspiring entrepreneurs are showing the most interest in starting a business, ranked A shopper walks through Santee Alley in downtown Los Angeles on July 28, 2026. Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Los Angeles County and Sheridan County, Wyoming, don't share many similarities, except for one main area: a high volume of business applications.That's one of several findings from the US Census Bureau's most recent business application data release in June. The data track applications for Employer Identification Numbers (EINs) submitted to the Internal Revenue Service. Business Insider sorted the data by which US counties saw the most EIN applications and calculated the percent change compared to 2024 data, while also cross-referencing with the agency's 2025 county population dataset to determine the rate of applications per 1,000 residents. These applications did not necessarily result in a business being formed.Overall, the US saw a roughly 8% increase in business applications in 2025, rising to 5.6 million from 5.2 million in 2024. That could be loosely tied to an economic shift during President Donald Trump's first year of his non-consecutive second term, including a weaker labor market that may have pushed some laid-off or out-of-work Americans toward entrepreneurship.The boom in artificial intelligence, too, has torn down some obstacles that previously barred entrepreneurs from starting and running a business, ushering in an AI startup golden age.While most of the top counties include large metropolitan areas like Philadelphia and Miami, a small county called Sheridan in the US' least-populated state, Wyoming, ranked 16th, with 47,787 business applications in 2025; its population is just 33,241 residents. That's more than half of the state's 79,024 applications overall.George Mocsary, a professor and corporate and small-business law expert at the University of Wyoming, told Business Insider that Wyoming is attractive to entrepreneurs because it has an industry built around simple, low-cost business formation services, particularly for small LLCs, including registered agents that provide designated addresses for receiving official notices.When applying for an EIN, he said businesses can use an address associated with their registered agent, in this case, Sheridan, making it appear as though tens of thousands of businesses are opening in the small Wyoming county when they may actually operate elsewhere."You've got an entire industry in the state, and in Sheridan in particular, that's set up to let you [start a company]," Moscary said.Here are the 25 US counties with the most business applications in 2025. 25. Philadelphia County, PA Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. f11photo/Getty Images/iStockphoto Business applications in 2025: 31,924Percent change from 2024 to 2025: 5.0% increasePopulation as of 2025: 1,574,281 residentsApplications per 1,000 residents: 20.3 24. Queens County, NY Queens, New York. Spencer Platt/Getty Images Business applications in 2025: 34,304Percent change from 2024 to 2025: 3.1% decreasePopulation as of 2025: 2,358,182 residentsApplications per 1,000 residents: 14.5 23. Sacramento County, CA Sacramento, California. Bloomberg/Getty Images Business applications in 2025: 35,789Percent change from 2024 to 2025: 14.6% increasePopulation as of 2025: 1,618,460 residentsApplications per 1,000 residents: 22.1 22. Pinellas County, FL St. Petersburg is located within Pinellas County. The Washington Post/Getty Images Business applications in 2025: 38,333Percent change from 2024 to 2025: 10.8% increasePopulation as of 2025: 948,563Applications per 1,000 residents: 40.4 21. Wayne County, MI Detroit is located within Wayne County. Bloomberg/Getty Images Business applications in 2025: 39,517Percent change from 2024 to 2025: 10.1% increasePopulation as of 2025: 1,769,038Applications per 1,000 residents: 22.3 20. Tarrant County, TX Fort Worth is located within Tarrant County. VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images Business applications in 2025: 39,814Percent change from 2024 to 2025: 13.2% increasePopulation as of 2025: 2,248,466 residentsApplications per 1,000 residents: 17.7 19. Hillsborough County, FL Tampa is located within Hillsborough County. Octavio Jones/Getty Images Business applications in 2025: 43,619Percent change from 2024 to 2025: 6.7% increasePopulation as of 2025: 1,574,115 residentsApplications per 1,000 residents: 27.7 18. San Diego County, CA San Diego. Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images Business applications in 2025: 45,546Percent change from 2024 to 2025: 8.1% increasePopulation as of 2025: 3,282,248 residentsApplications per 1,000 residents: 13.9 17. King County, WA Seattle is located within King County. Bloomberg/Getty Images Business applications in 2025: 46,989Percent change from 2024 to 2025: 25.3% increasePopulation as of 2025: 2,344,939 residentsApplications per 1,000 residents: 20.0 16. Sheridan County, WY Sheridan, Wyoming. Tony Bynum for The Washington Post via Getty Images Business applications in 2025: 47,787Percent change from 2024 to 2025: 25.1% increasePopulation as of 2025: 33,241 residentsApplications per 1,000 residents: 1,438 15. Palm Beach County, FL Palm Beach, Florida. : Visions of America/Joseph Sohm/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Business applications in 2025: 48,510Percent change from 2024 to 2025: 1% decreasePopulation as of 2025: 1,575,726 residentsApplications per 1,000 residents: 30.8 14. Kings County, NY Brooklyn is located within Kings County. Bloomberg/Getty Images Business applications in 2025: 48,687Percent change from 2024 to 2025: 0.3% decreasePopulation as of 2025: 2,653,963 residentsApplications per 1,000 residents: 18.3 13. Travis County, TX Austin is located within Travis County. Mikala Compton/The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images Business applications in 2025: 48,974Percent change from 2024 to 2025: 15.2% increasePopulation as of 2025: 1,389,670Applications per 1,000 residents: 35.2 12. Orange County, FL Orlando is located within Orange County. : Jeff Greenberg/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Business applications in 2025: 49,392Percent change from 2024 to 2025: 2.4% increasePopulation as of 2025: 1,528,002Applications per 1,000 residents: 32.3 11. Fulton County, GA Atlanta is located within Fulton County. Bloomberg/Getty Images Business applications in 2025: 49,873Percent change from 2024 to 2025: 5.3% increasePopulation as of 2025: 1,098,791 residentsApplications per 1,000 residents: 45.4 10. Orange County, CA Huntington Beach is located within Orange County. Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Business applications in 2025: 49,945Percent change from 2024 to 2025: 6.6% increasePopulation as of 2025: 3,149,507 residentsApplications per 1,000 residents: 15.9 9. Clark County, NV Las Vegas is located within Clark County. Mario Tama/Getty Images Business applications in 2025: 51,725Percent change from 2024 to 2025: 7.7% increasePopulation as of 2025: 2,407,226 residentsApplications per 1,000 residents: 21.5 8. New York County, NY Manhattan is located within New York County. CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP via Getty Images Business applications in 2025: 54,695Percent change from 2024 to 2025: 5.2% increasePopulation as of 2025: 1,664,862 residentsApplications per 1,000 residents: 32.9 7. Dallas County, TX Dallas. : HUM Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Business applications in 2025: 61,000Percent change from 2024 to 2025: 8.3% increasePopulation as of 2025: 2,661,397 residentsApplications per 1,000 residents: 22.9 6. Broward County, FL Fort Lauderdale is located within Broward County. Sean Pavone/Getty Images/iStockphoto Business applications in 2025: 72,422Percent change from 2024 to 2025: 1.4% decreasePopulation as of 2025: 2,013,317 residentsApplications per 1,000 residents: 36.0 5. Maricopa County, AZ Phoenix is located within Maricopa County. Brandon Bell/Getty Images Business applications in 2025: 98,384Percent change from 2024 to 2025: 14.5% increasePopulation as of 2025: 4,689,558 residentsApplications per 1,000 residents: 21.0 4. Cook County, IL Chicago is located within Cook County. Bloomberg/Getty Images Business applications in 2025: 99,217Percent change from 2024 to 2025: 8.1% increasePopulation as of 2025: 5,194,625 residentsApplications per 1,000 residents: 19.1 3. Harris County, TX Houston is located within Harris County. Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images Business applications in 2025: 99,688Percent change from 2024 to 2025: 6.5% increasePopulation as of 2025: 5,045,026 residentsApplications per 1,000 residents: 19.8 2. Miami-Dade County, FL Miami. : Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Business applications in 2025: 135,758Percent change from 2024 to 2025: 2% decreasePopulation as of 2025: 2,802,029Applications per 1,000 residents: 48.4 1. Los Angeles County, CA Los Angeles. Thomas Imo/Photothek via Getty Images Business applications in 2025: 172,540Percent change from 2024 to 2025: 4.1% increasePopulation as of 2025: 9,694,934 residentsApplications per 1,000 residents: 17.8 Read next Tristin Hoffman is a Life Fellow on Business Insider’s Editorial Partnerships team. Her reporting focuses on retail, travel, business, and more through a visual storytelling and lifestyle lens. She has previously reported on Oregon’s economy for The Oregonian and Pennsylvania litigation for Law.com. Her stories have inspired policy changes, shed light on public officials’ misconduct, and gained national awards. She graduated from the University of Oregon, where she studied journalism and law while serving as editor-in-chief of The Daily Emerald. Small Businesses Startups Economy More Los Angeles