Monthly report

New business formation by state: October 2026

Name: New business formation by state, October 2026
Creator: ListRiver
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

104,636 new businesses were formed in October 2026 across the 8 states with complete October 2026 data, down 17% from September and down 11% from October 2025. Florida led with 44,852.

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New businesses

104,636

8 states

Month over month

-17%

vs 125,412

Year over year

-11%

vs 118,220

Top state

Florida

43% of the total

New businesses per month, all 8 states

States ranked by new businesses, October 2026

#	State	New businesses	vs September	vs a year ago
1	Florida	44,852	-16%	-18%
2	New York	19,081	-14%	-14%
3	Colorado	13,953	+6%	+12%
4	Illinois	9,319	-31%	+28%
5	Virginia	8,152	-28%	-22%
6	Oregon	5,731	-13%	-13%
7	Connecticut	3,040	-31%	-25%
8	Vermont	508	-37%	-1%

Not included: California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Mississippi, Alaska, District of Columbia, Ohio. Those states are still reporting October 2026, so the count on file is incomplete.

Cities with the most new businesses

#	City	New businesses
1	Miami, FL	4,977
2	Denver, CO	4,227
3	Saint Petersburg, FL	3,955
4	Albany, NY	3,004
5	Brooklyn, NY	2,674
6	Chicago, IL	2,442
7	New York, NY	2,269
8	Orlando, FL	2,221
9	Tampa, FL	1,830
10	Portland, OR	1,636
11	Colorado Springs, CO	1,374
12	Jacksonville, FL	1,339
13	Richmond, VA	1,122
14	Aurora, CO	925
15	Fort Lauderdale, FL	921

Biggest year-over-year increases

#	City	New businesses	vs a year ago
1	Melville, NY	272	+224%
2	Monroe, NY	113	+92%
3	Aurora, IL	135	+57%
4	Grand Junction, CO	228	+48%
5	Greeley, CO	216	+40%
6	Chicago, IL	2,442	+33%
7	Loveland, CO	171	+31%
8	Denver, CO	4,227	+27%
9	Des Plaines, IL	103	+27%
10	Fort Collins, CO	353	+27%
11	Englewood, CO	202	+24%
12	Broomfield, CO	173	+24%
13	Thornton, CO	200	+23%
14	Spring Valley, NY	124	+23%
15	Brighton, CO	127	+21%

Cities with at least 100 new businesses this month and 50 in the same month a year earlier.

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September 2026

Methodology

Totals cover the 8 states with complete October 2026 data (Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia), not the whole country. Counts are businesses whose formation (registration) date falls in October 2026 and that appear on each state's register in ListRiver's data. Businesses already dissolved are not counted, so earlier months are slightly understated and year-over-year increases slightly overstated. States publish on different schedules, so the newest month can rise as late filings arrive. City refers to the business address on file. More in the methodology.

Cite this report: ListRiver, “New business formation by state: October 2026”, https://listriver.com/reports/new-businesses/all-states/2026-10. Journalists and researchers are welcome to use these figures with a link. Download the monthly counts by state and county (CSV).