The U.S. Census Bureau has issued updated Business Formation Statistics (BFS), offering timely and high-frequency data on new business applications and formations across the United States. Developed at the Center for Economic Studies, the BFS is a collaborative effort involving economists from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the University of Maryland, and the University of Notre Dame.
Recent updates include the release of weekly Business Applications data with industry detail, classified by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), through 2025. This release also incorporates revisions to the methodology for assigning NAICS codes to previously published weekly BFS by industry data. These updated figures are accessible on the Special Projects section of the Census Bureau's website.
Additionally, the Bureau announced the release of Annual Island Areas Business Applications for 2025. This annual update also includes revisions to previously published annual counts for the Island Areas, providing a more comprehensive historical view.
The latest annual update to the BFS, applied during the January 2026 monthly release, has revised the Formation series, which tracks business formations or firm births. These revisions are based on data from the Business Dynamics Statistics (BDS) program. The annual update also involves the recomputation and application of seasonal factors, leading to adjustments in the seasonally adjusted series.
During this annual update, underlying NAICS codes are typically revised for the preceding five years to incorporate more accurate and detailed information from administrative sources. Notably, due to significant differences between the 2017 and 2022 NAICS vintages, the entire time series has been restated to align with the 2022 NAICS. The January 2026 monthly data publication marked the first release reflecting this transition to the 2022 NAICS.
A significant methodological change was implemented as of the January 2026 monthly release: applications associated with internet sales are now excluded from the high-propensity business applications (HBA) and corporation business applications (CBA) series. This adjustment, initially planned for November 2025, updates the definitions for HBA and CBA across the entire time series. This change stems from a periodic evaluation of the characteristics of high-propensity applications and their likelihood of converting into actual business formations.
The Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) online Employer Identification Number (EIN) Assistant experienced a scheduled outage from December 30, 2025, to January 5, 2026. During this period, applicants were unable to apply for an EIN through the web application. Consequently, the Business Formation Statistics Monthly data for December 2025 and the Weekly data for Week 53 of 2025 have been impacted by this IRS system interruption.
Further data releases include Annual Business Applications by County, which was made available on June 11, 2025. This annual release provides data for 2024 and incorporates revisions to the previously published county counts for 2023 and 2022, offering a granular look at business application trends at the county level.
For a historical perspective, the Census Bureau maintains a document detailing Previous Announcements related to BFS. This resource allows users to track past updates and changes to the statistics.
Users interested in exploring the data further can utilize interactive tools. Customizable time series data can be created through the Time Series/Trend Charts feature. Additionally, the FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) app, developed by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, now incorporates 13 economic indicators from the Census Bureau, providing a comprehensive platform for accessing key economic data on both Apple and Android devices.
The Business Formation Statistics program is designed to provide essential insights into the dynamics of business creation in the U.S. economy. The ongoing updates and methodological refinements ensure that the data remains relevant and accurate for researchers, policymakers, and the public.
