Picture a coffee shop owner in Philadelphia staring at an EIN confirmation screen after filing her LLC paperwork last fall. Multiply that moment by 5.6 million, and you get the scale of what unfolded across the country last year.
Business filings climbed about 8% in 2025, jumping from roughly 5.2 million the year before to about 5.6 million, according to US Census Bureau data released in June and analysed by Business Insider. The figures track Employer Identification Number submissions to the IRS — and crucially, not every filing translates into an actual company that opens its doors.
What's driving the surge
A weaker labour market during the early phase of Trump's return to the White House may have nudged some laid-off and out-of-work Americans into launching something of their own. On top of that, cheaper and more capable AI tools have stripped out friction that used to keep would-be founders on the sidelines. The combination amounts to a golden age for AI-powered startups.
The result: a country filing more EINs in a single year, spread unevenly across counties.
Where the filings are concentrated
Most of the high-volume counties are large metros — Philadelphia logged 31,924 filings, a 5% bump from 2024. But a surprising outlier sits in Wyoming, the country's least-populated state. Sheridan County recorded 47,787 filings in 2025 against a population of just 33,241. That single county generated more than half of Wyoming's 79,024 filings statewide.
Why does a county of 33,000 people produce that kind of paperwork? George Mocsary, a University of Wyoming professor who studies corporate and small-business law, told Business Insider that Wyoming has built an industry around low-cost LLC formation services. Registered agents there supply a designated address that founders can list on their EIN applications, even when the founder lives and works elsewhere.
"You're not really starting a business in Sheridan," Mocsary said. "You're using Sheridan's infrastructure to start a business somewhere else."
Strip out the registered-agent filings and Sheridan looks like any other small rural county. Leave them in, and it tops counties with populations ten times its size.
Why the geography matters
Raw filing counts flatter places with solid registered-agent infrastructure. Per-capita rates reveal actual founder density. Pinellas County, Florida, for instance, logged 38,333 filings — fewer than Sheridan — but its population of 948,563 residents gives it a rate of 40.4 applications per 1,000 people, dwarfing most counties on the list.
For policymakers, this distinction is critical. A county with inflated filing numbers might chase grant funding or pitch itself as a startup hub based on metrics that don't translate into jobs, tax revenue, or payrolls.
The trade-off baked into the boom
A softer job market pushing talented people toward self-employment sounds like a success story. But EIN filings are a sentiment indicator, not a growth indicator. Many of those applications never become employer firms. Many won't survive their second year.
The real test: whether rising filings are accompanied by rising business formations, revenue, and hires. The Census Bureau releases formation data separately. Watch whether the two trend together.
What to watch
Pay attention to the conversion gap. If applications keep climbing while formations stay flat, the boom is paperwork. If both rise together, the economy has genuine momentum — and leadership teams across industries will need to reckon with a more founderially ambitious workforce.
Key takeaways
- Business applications rose roughly 8% in 2025, hitting about 5.6 million from about 5.2 million in 2024.
- Large metros dominate the raw counts, but per-capita rates reveal a different map of founder density.
- Sheridan County, Wyoming ranks high because of its registered-agent industry, not local entrepreneurial activity.
- EIN filings measure intent, not outcomes — the real signal lives in formation data.
Frequently asked questions
How many business filings did the US see in 2025?
Around 5.6 million, up roughly 8% from about 5.2 million in 2024, per US Census Bureau data analysed by Business Insider.
Why does Sheridan County, Wyoming rank so high in filings?
Registered agents there provide addresses for LLCs incorporated elsewhere, inflating the local count.
Does an EIN filing mean a new business was created?
Not necessarily. The filings track applications submitted to the IRS, and not every one becomes an operating company.
What is driving the surge in applications?
A softer labour market may be pushing some Americans toward self-employment, while AI tools lower the cost of starting and running a business.
Which counties lead the application list?
Large metropolitan counties lead in raw numbers, while smaller counties with dense registered-agent industries can outrank them per capita.
Source: businessinsider.com