Monthly report

New businesses in California: January 2026

261,153 new businesses were formed in California in January 2026, up 13473% from December and down 34% from January 2025.

New businesses
261,153
January 2026
Month over month
+13473%
vs 1,924
Year over year
-34%
vs 395,736
Most common type
LLC
71% of formations

New California businesses per month

0200,000400,000Jan 2024: 338,7542024Feb 2024: 1,196Mar 2024: 1,361Apr 2024: 1,401May 2024: 1,493Jun 2024: 1,253Jul 2024: 1,327Aug 2024: 1,393Sep 2024: 1,268Oct 2024: 1,378Nov 2024: 1,074Dec 2024: 1,146Jan 2025: 395,7362025Feb 2025: 1,440Mar 2025: 1,929Apr 2025: 1,935May 2025: 1,917Jun 2025: 1,824Jul 2025: 1,928Aug 2025: 1,998Sep 2025: 2,022Oct 2025: 2,034Nov 2025: 1,586Dec 2025: 1,924Jan 2026: 261,1532026

By entity type

  • LLCs184,352 · 71%
  • Corporations53,109 · 20%
  • Other22,066 · 8%
  • Limited partnerships1,601 · 1%
  • Nonprofits24 · 0%
  • LLPs1 · 0%

Top counties in January 2026

Top cities in January 2026

Want the businesses, not just the count?

The 261,153 businesses counted above are available as a file: name, address, entity type, formation month and, where the state publishes it, the registered agent.

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Every business formed in the last 12 months across 15 states: more than 2.2 million records, one CSV per state, with 2 monthly updates included.

The formation date in the files is the year and month. Most records have no email address or EIN.

Get the list of 261,153 new California businesses from January 2026

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Methodology

Counts are businesses registered with the state of California whose formation (registration) date falls in January 2026 and that appear on the state register in ListRiver's data as of October 12, 2026. Businesses already dissolved are not counted, so older months can drift slightly as records change. City and county refer to the business address on file. More in the methodology.

Cite this report: ListRiver, “New businesses in California: January 2026”, https://listriver.com/reports/new-businesses/california/2026-01. Journalists and researchers are welcome to use these figures with a link.

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