SALT LAKE — Small business applications are booming across the country, especially along the Mountain West including Utah.
Nearly 5.5 million new business applications were filed across the nation last year. That’s an increase from 5.1 million applications in 2022, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Florida and several states along the Mountain West range, such as Wyoming, Utah and Colorado have some of the highest rates of new applications per 1,000 residents in 2023.
Nationally, there were about 16.3 new business filings per 1,000 residents
Small business growth in Utah
There were 71,262 new business applications in Utah last year, which is nearly a 9% increase from the 65,233 applications filed in 2022.
Applications increased in all but six of Utah’s 29 counties in 2023.
The only counties where applications decreased slightly were Garfield, Iron, Kane, Morgan, Sanpete, Uintah and Weber counties.
Salt Lake County had the highest increase of business applications, growing from 23,263 to 26,690 in 2023.
Utah County saw the second highest number of business applications last year at 17,810.
Allessandra Harris-Gurr is a reporter for KSL NewsRadio.
