Skip to content
English
Back to platform
  • There are no suggestions because the search field is empty.

About the new Business Dynamics Statistics (BDS) data from the U.S. Census Bureau

This dataset provides annual measures of how businesses change over time, including business births and deaths, job creation and destruction, and employment growth. This initial batch includes four years of data (2020 to 2023) at the County, State, and Nation geographies.

Communities often know how many businesses or jobs exist today, but need data on how their economy is changing. Business Dynamics Statistics (BDS) from the U.S. Census Bureau measures business openings, closures, job creation, job losses, firm deaths, and business growth by industry, business age, and size. Communities can better understand local economic momentum, identify emerging industries, evaluate business vitality, and support economic development strategies with data that shows not just where the economy is today, but how it is shifting.

Included Data

The following data are also by Establishment Age, Firm Age, Firm Number of Employees, and NAICS Sector.

  • Jobs (Paid Employment)
  • Jobs with Firm Deaths
  • Firms
  • Firm Deaths
  • Establishments
  • Establishment Entry
  • Establishment Entry Rate
  • Establishment Exit
  • Establishment Exit Rate
  • Establishments with Firm Deaths
  • Job Creation
  • Job Creation for Establishment Births or Continuing
  • Job Creation Rate
  • Job Creation Rate Births
  • Job Destruction
  • Job Destruction for Establishment Continuing or Deaths
  • Job Destruction Rate
  • Job Destruction Rate Deaths
  • Net Job Creation
  • Net Job Creation Rate
  • Reallocation Rate

Geographic Availability

  • This dataset is not apportionable to custom geographies.

  • This dataset is currently available for County, State, and Nation geographies within mySidewalk.

Use Cases

This dataset can help you understand the dynamics of your local economy.

Common applications include:

  • Measuring whether the local business community is growing or shrinking.
  • Identifying industries creating or losing jobs.
  • Understanding entrepreneurship through establishment births.
  • Monitoring business closures and firm deaths.
  • Comparing economic resilience across counties or states.
  • Supporting economic development, workforce, and strategic planning initiatives.
  • Evaluating the age and size composition of local businesses.

Unlike employment snapshots, BDS tells the story of how an economy is changing over time.

Sidekick Prompts

  • How has the business landscape changed in <State or County> since 2020? Is the business community growing or shrinking?
  • Which industries created the most jobs—and which lost the most—in <State or County> in 2023?
  • Are new business openings outpacing business closures in <State or County>?
  • Which counties in <State> have the highest rates of new business establishment births?
  • Which industries in <State or County> are adding new businesses but losing jobs?
  • Has the manufacturing sector in <State or County> been growing through new business openings or through expansion of existing businesses?
  • Which industries in <State or County> are adding jobs and may require additional workforce training or economic development investment?
  • Compare the business resilience of <County 1> and <County 2> using business births, business closures, firm deaths, and net job creation.
  • Are businesses in <State or County> primarily long-established companies or newer businesses? Are most jobs concentrated in small firms or large firms?
  • Which industries experienced high job turnover in <State or County>, even though total employment changed very little?