15 Cities With the Most Jobs Created by New Businesses

Prospective employees in business attire wait in line for job interviews
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Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared on HireAHelper.

One of the dominant trends in the U.S. economy in recent decades is the concentration of economic power in larger, established firms. Since the late 1970s, the share of startup firms in the economy has dropped from nearly 14% to just above 8% today.

As larger firms’ market power has grown, the share of jobs created by new businesses has fallen significantly.

The share of total employment at newly-opened businesses neared 8% in the late 1980s, but today, new firms employ just 3.9% of the total labor market.

The top industries generating jobs from new businesses include real estate (rental and leasing), accommodation and food services, administrative and support, waste management, and remediation services.

New businesses are responsible for more than 5.5% of total employment in each of these industries.

Job creation from new businesses also looks different across the country. Economic, demographic, and public policy differences across cities and states can create varying conditions for new businesses to thrive.

To determine the locations with the most jobs created by new businesses, researchers at HireAHelper calculated the share of total employment attributable to business establishments that opened in the past 12 months. The data used in this analysis is from the U.S. Census Bureau.

See our detailed methodology at the end.

Here are the U.S. metropolitan areas with the most jobs created by new businesses.

15. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX

Dallas, Texas
Kevin Ruck / Shutterstock.com
  • Share of total employment at newly-opened businesses: 4.4%
  • Total employment at newly-opened businesses: 152,206
  • Share of total businesses that are newly opened: 11.0%
  • Total newly-opened businesses: 17,199

14. Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO

Denver skyline
Andrew Zarivny / Shutterstock.com
  • Share of total employment at newly-opened businesses: 4.5%
  • Total employment at newly-opened businesses: 62,780
  • Share of total businesses that are newly opened: 11.5%
  • Total newly-opened businesses: 8,790

13. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA

Seattle, Washington
Edmund Lowe Photography / Shutterstock.com
  • Share of total employment at newly-opened businesses: 4.5%
  • Total employment at newly-opened businesses: 81,256
  • Share of total businesses that are newly opened: 10.1%
  • Total newly-opened businesses: 9,659

12. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA

The streets of Los Angeles, where median rent is relatively low
Sean Pavone / Shutterstock.com
  • Share of total employment at newly-opened businesses: 4.5%
  • Total employment at newly-opened businesses: 257,404
  • Share of total businesses that are newly opened: 12.3%
  • Total newly-opened businesses: 40,922

11. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL

Miami, Florida
littleny / Shutterstock.com
  • Share of total employment at newly-opened businesses: 4.6%
  • Total employment at newly-opened businesses: 123,560
  • Share of total businesses that are newly opened: 12.7%
  • Total newly-opened businesses: 22,127

10. Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX

Houston, Texas
Joseph Sohm / Shutterstock.com
  • Share of total employment at newly-opened businesses: 4.6%
  • Total employment at newly-opened businesses: 131,581
  • Share of total businesses that are newly opened: 10.7%
  • Total newly-opened businesses: 14,312

9. Fresno, CA

Fresno California
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  • Share of total employment at newly-opened businesses: 4.7%
  • Total employment at newly-opened businesses: 13,842
  • Share of total businesses that are newly opened: 9.6%
  • Total newly-opened businesses: 1,530

8. Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV

Las Vegas homes
trekandshoot / Shutterstock.com
  • Share of total employment at newly-opened businesses: 4.7%
  • Total employment at newly-opened businesses: 44,271
  • Share of total businesses that are newly opened: 12.2%
  • Total newly-opened businesses: 5,203

7. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL

Orlando, Florida
songquan-deng / Shutterstock.com
  • Share of total employment at newly-opened businesses: 4.8%
  • Total employment at newly-opened businesses: 57,801
  • Share of total businesses that are newly opened: 12.3%
  • Total newly-opened businesses: 7,539

6. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA

Riverside, California
MattGush / Shutterstock.com
  • Share of total employment at newly-opened businesses: 4.8%
  • Total employment at newly-opened businesses: 63,604
  • Share of total businesses that are newly opened: 11.9%
  • Total newly-opened businesses: 8,475

5. San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA

San Francisco neighborhood.
Bertl123 / Shutterstock.com
  • Share of total employment at newly-opened businesses: 4.9%
  • Total employment at newly-opened businesses: 118,203
  • Share of total businesses that are newly opened: 10.4%
  • Total newly-opened businesses: 12,458

4. Oklahoma City, OK

Oklahoma City
Henryk Sadura / Shutterstock.com
  • Share of total employment at newly-opened businesses: 5.0%
  • Total employment at newly-opened businesses: 28,023
  • Share of total businesses that are newly opened: 9.5%
  • Total newly-opened businesses: 3,097

3. Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX

Austin, Texas waterscape
Silvio Ligutti / Shutterstock.com
  • Share of total employment at newly-opened businesses: 5.1%
  • Total employment at newly-opened businesses: 47,157
  • Share of total businesses that are newly opened: 12.0%
  • Total newly-opened businesses: 6,172

2. Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN

Nashville, Tennessee
Kevin Ruck / Shutterstock.com
  • Share of total employment at newly-opened businesses: 5.3%
  • Total employment at newly-opened businesses: 49,859
  • Share of total businesses that are newly opened: 9.7%
  • Total newly-opened businesses: 4,087

1. Jacksonville, FL

Jacksonville, Florida
Sean Pavone / Shutterstock.com
  • Share of total employment at newly-opened businesses: 6.7%
  • Total employment at newly-opened businesses: 43,541
  • Share of total businesses that are newly opened: 11.4%
  • Total newly-opened businesses: 4,026

Methodology

Data scientist
SeventyFour / Shutterstock.com

The data used in this analysis is from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Business Dynamics Statistics 2020 datasets.

To determine the locations with the most jobs created by new businesses, researchers at HireAHelper calculated the share of total employment attributable to business establishments that opened in the past 12 months.

A business establishment is defined as a single physical location where one predominant business activity occurs and businesses may have multiple establishments. In the event of a tie, the location with the greater total employment at newly-opened businesses was ranked higher.

To improve relevance, only metropolitan areas with at least 100,000 residents were included.

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