Chart

Washington's new business filings fell further behind the U.S. after 2019

Washington's rate of filings to start businesses likely to hire, per 1,000 residents, as a percent of the U.S. rate, 2015-2025.

Credit: FactHub Research Team; data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics, and Census population estimates

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Line chart, 2015 to 2025. Washington's business filing rate stays between 87% and 91% of the U.S. rate from 2015 to 2019, drops to 74% in 2020, stays near 75% to 77% through 2023, and recovers to 82% in 2024 and 81% in 2025. A line at 100% marks the U.S. rate. — Washington's filings to start likely employers per 1,000 residents, as a percent of the U.S. rate: 87% (2015), 90% (2016), 88% (2017), 91% (2018), 87% (2019), 74% (2020), 75% (2021), 77% (2022), 75% (2023), 82% (2024) and 81% (2025). Washington averaged 89% of the U.S. rate in 2015-2019 and 77% in 2020-2025.

What this chart asks

Does Washington start new businesses at the U.S. rate?

Why it is shown this way

A share of the U.S. rate takes out the national surge in filings after 2020, so the line shows only how Washington compares.
A line shows the year-to-year path, and hovering shows each year's rates per 1,000 residents.

Chart annotations

These markers provide relevant context for interpreting the chart. Their timing or position does not, by itself, establish causation.

U.S. rate

Threshold: 100

Why this is marked: Marks parity with the U.S. so readers can see the size of the gap.

Pandemic begins

2020

U.S. filings jumped from 2020 on; Washington's rose less.

Why this is marked: Marks where the gap widened; the split matches the before-and-since-2020 periods in the article.

Data and accessibility

Download chart data · Open accessible table · Download PNG · Download SVG

Dataset wa-big-employers-business-counts, analysis formation-rate

Sources

This chart draws on the sources of the dataset versions it visualizes.

Washington's business climate, big employers and business counts, 2014-2026

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, EDGAR submissions API Business address and latest annual report (Form 10-K) for each company, from https://data.sec.gov/submissions/CIK##########.json
Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Permitted

Reliability: Government. Addresses are what each company reports to the SEC on its filings. The SEC has no stake in where companies locate.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, QCEW establishment size data First-quarter counts of private worksites with 1,000 or more employees and their March employment, 2019-2026 (same file pattern for each year)
Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Permitted

Reliability: Government. Built from unemployment-insurance tax reports that nearly all employers file each quarter. Washington's data come from the state Employment Security Department.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, QCEW series ENU5300020510, ENUUS00020510, ENU5300010510, ENUUS00010510 Private-sector establishment counts and employment, Washington and U.S.
Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Permitted

Reliability: Government. Same unemployment-insurance records as the size data. Establishment counts depend on how employers' reporting units are recorded.
Washington Employment Security Department, WARN layoff and closure database Every layoff and closure notice in the database, June 2018 to November 2, 2026
Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public record (Washington state government). Permitted

Reliability: Government. Notices are filed by employers under the federal WARN Act and, from July 27, 2025, Washington's own notice law. ESD lists them by the date it receives them. The first 15 rows of the copy matched the live table on November 3, 2026.
Washington State Legislature, RCW 49.45.010 Definitions of covered employer and mass layoff in Washington's notice law (2025 c 277)
Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public record (Washington state government). Permitted

Reliability: Government. Official statute text from the Code Reviser.
Washington Employment Security Department Date the state notice law took effect
Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public record (Washington state government). Permitted

Reliability: Government. The agency that administers the notice law and keeps the database.
29 U.S. Code 2101 (Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School) Federal WARN Act definitions of employer and mass layoff
Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public domain statute text. Permitted

Reliability: Academic. Cornell's copy of the U.S. Code text.
Census Bureau Business Formation Statistics via FRED, BAHBATOTALNSAWA Monthly high-propensity business applications, Washington, not seasonally adjusted
Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Permitted

Reliability: Government. Census counts applications for federal employer ID numbers and flags those likely to become employers. FRED republishes the series unchanged.
Census Bureau Business Formation Statistics via FRED, BAHBATOTALNSAUS Monthly high-propensity business applications, United States, not seasonally adjusted
Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Permitted

Reliability: Government. Same Census program as the Washington series.
FRED, resident population WAPOP (Census) and B230RC0A052NBEA (BEA) Annual population of Washington and the U.S. (U.S. series https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/B230RC0A052NBEA), used for per-person rates
Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Permitted

Reliability: Government. Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis population estimates.
Washington Employment Security Department, Monthly Employment Report charts workbook, September 2026 Over-the-year job change by industry, September 2025 to September 2026 (sheet 'Industry employment OTY, nsa', updated October 14, 2026)
Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public record (Washington state government). Permitted

Reliability: Government. ESD's monthly survey-based estimates (Current Employment Statistics), revised when benchmarked to tax records.
Southern Business & Development Avalara headquarters now Durham, June 24, 2024
Retrieved November 3, 2026. All rights reserved. Link only

Reliability: News report. Economic-development trade publication quoting the company.
Trade & Industry Development Starbucks Nashville office, April 22, 2026
Retrieved November 3, 2026. All rights reserved. Link only

Reliability: News report. Economic-development trade publication reporting the Tennessee announcement.
KIRO 7 Columbia Bank executive office in Arizona, October 2026
Retrieved November 3, 2026. All rights reserved. Link only

Reliability: News report. Local TV news report summarizing the Puget Sound Business Journal.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics, series BDS0000053000000000120007RQ5, BDS0000053000000000120008RQ5, BDS0000000000000000120007RQ5, BDS0000000000000000120008RQ5, BDS0000053000000000120007LQ5, BDS0000053000000000120008LQ5 Quarterly private establishment births (openings of new businesses) and deaths (closings that last a year), as a percent of establishments, Washington and U.S., seasonally adjusted, 2014 to early 2026; Washington counts from 2017
Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Permitted

Reliability: Government. Built from the same unemployment-insurance records as the QCEW, linked across quarters so new and closed businesses can be told apart from accounts that change hands.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics, series SMS53000000500000001 and CES0500000001 Monthly private-sector jobs, Washington and U.S., seasonally adjusted, thousands
Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Permitted

Reliability: Government. Monthly payroll survey estimates, benchmarked each year to tax records.
Tax Foundation, 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index Washington's overall rank for 2020-2026 from the edition's table of past ranks recomputed with the 2026 method
Retrieved November 3, 2026. Publisher copyright; ranks cited as facts. Facts cited with attribution

Reliability: Advocacy group. Has a stake in this finding. A think tank that favors low, broad-based taxes. Its index scores tax structure only, not overall economic conditions.
CNBC, America's Top States for Business 2019 Washington's 2019 overall, Cost of Doing Business and Business Friendliness ranks
Retrieved November 3, 2026. Publisher copyright; ranks cited as facts. Facts cited with attribution

Reliability: News report. A business news network that scores states in 10 categories from public data; weights change each year.
CNBC, America's Top States for Business 2026: Washington Washington's 2026 overall, Cost of Doing Business and Business Friendliness ranks, and the 2025 ranks the page compares them with
Retrieved November 3, 2026. Publisher copyright; ranks cited as facts. Facts cited with attribution

Reliability: News report. A business news network that scores states in 10 categories from public data; weights change each year.

Limitations

Filings are plans to start a business, not openings.
Counts only high-propensity applications, those the Census Bureau judges likely to hire.
The Y axis does not start at zero.

Articles and datasets using this chart

Article Washington's business climate is slipping, though big employers stay.

Version details

The exact citing versions, and the version of this chart each cites.

Article wa-big-employers-not-leaving — version 5 (published) cites version 1

Node: chart:wa-business-filings-share-of-us