Business Formation Pulse · CA counties

California Business Applications by County

Explore annual Census business applications across California. Bubble size shows application volume; color can show volume or year-over-year change.

Latest year: 2025 · 58 counties

Interactive county map

Where are business applications concentrated?

Choose a year and map view, then select a bubble or ranking bar for exact county context.

Map view
Light to dark: lower to higher application volumeBubble size: applications

County points use official Census internal coordinates. Values are protected estimates from the published annual BFS county file.

County ranking

Highest application counties

The ranking follows the selected year and map measure. Select a bar to inspect that county.

Ranking

All counties

Ranked by 2025 business applications

California counties ranked by 2025 business applications
RankCountyApplicationsvs. prior yearShare of state
1Los Angeles County (featured)172,540+4.1%31.1%
2Orange County (featured)49,945+6.6%9.0%
3San Diego County (featured)45,546+8.1%8.2%
4Sacramento County35,789+14.6%6.5%
5Riverside County29,037+5.0%5.2%
6San Bernardino County26,656+6.1%4.8%
7Santa Clara County24,043+7.9%4.3%
8Alameda County21,047+8.2%3.8%
9San Francisco County20,682+10.3%3.7%
10Contra Costa County14,264+6.9%2.6%
11Fresno County10,779+12.8%1.9%
12San Mateo County10,625+11.5%1.9%
13San Joaquin County9,681+9.8%1.7%
14Kern County8,751+14.5%1.6%
15Ventura County8,703+1.5%1.6%
16Placer County5,485+10.0%1.0%
17Stanislaus County5,287+7.9%1.0%
18Sonoma County5,023+1.9%0.9%
19Solano County4,847+9.1%0.9%
20Santa Barbara County4,011+1.7%0.7%
21Marin County3,749+4.7%0.7%
22Monterey County3,530+6.9%0.6%
23Tulare County3,521+15.7%0.6%
24San Luis Obispo County2,707+6.6%0.5%
25Santa Cruz County2,306+3.9%0.4%
26Merced County2,212+12.9%0.4%
27Shasta County2,122+37.0%0.4%
28El Dorado County2,105+8.9%0.4%
29Yolo County1,985+13.0%0.4%
30Butte County1,925+26.3%0.3%
31Madera County1,459+20.9%0.3%
32Napa County1,453+9.6%0.3%
33Nevada County1,366+8.3%0.2%
34Imperial County1,300+8.9%0.2%
35Sutter County1,128+9.0%0.2%
36Humboldt County1,079-0.4%0.2%
37Kings County992+6.0%0.2%
38Mendocino County766+10.7%0.1%
39Yuba County746+12.5%0.1%
40San Benito County570-6.3%0.1%
41Tehama County554+26.2%0.1%
42Lake County526+1.0%0.1%
43Siskiyou County426+22.8%0.1%
44Calaveras County406+3.0%0.1%
45Tuolumne County382-13.0%0.1%
46Amador County289-3.0%0.1%
47Glenn County244+40.2%0.0%
48Plumas County187+43.8%0.0%
49Mariposa County177+50.0%0.0%
50Inyo County164+23.3%0.0%
51Del Norte County160+3.2%0.0%
52Lassen County159-3.0%0.0%
53Colusa County143+2.1%0.0%
54Trinity County140+21.7%0.0%
55Mono County132-18.5%0.0%
56Modoc County64+18.5%0.0%
57Sierra County17-34.6%0.0%
58Alpine County10.0%0.0%