Census Business Formation Statistics API

What you can build

Business applications are EIN applications, not new operating businesses. Actual, projected and spliced formation series remain distinct, with four/eight-quarter horizons and duration measured in quarters. Monthly county data is unavailable. Preserve seasonal adjustment, overlapping series, source industry aggregates and missing/suppressed markers. Annual county counts through 2025 use differential privacy and retain native source geography; no inferred points or local industry estimates. Use this dataset as a sourced input to an application, analytical model or retrieval tool. Retain its native dimensions when joining it with your own records.

Query Census Business Formation Statistics

The example below is a real bounded request against the available release. Replace the environment variable with your server-side API credential. Review endpoint parameters and response schemas before changing selectors.

curl --fail --get "https://api.geoamcan.com/v1/business/formations?geo_type=state&geoid=06&period=2026-09&series=BA_BA&adjustment=A&limit=1" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GEOAMCAN_API_KEY"

Saved response excerpt

{
  "requested_area": {
    "geo_type": "state",
    "geoid": "06",
    "frequency": "monthly",
    "period": "2026-09",
    "series": "BA_BA",
    "industry": "TOTAL",
    "adjustment": "A"
  },
  "data": [
    {
      "frequency": "monthly",
      "geo_type": "state",
      "geoid": "06",
      "period": "2026-09",
      "series": "BA_BA",
      "industry": "TOTAL",
      "adjustment": "A",
      "value": 52974,
      "source_marker": "",
      "unit": "applications",
      "value_status": "published"
    }
  ],
  "availability": {
    "status": "available",
    "coverage": [
      {
        "records": 66276,
        "geo_type": "county",
        "frequency": "annual",
        "last_period": "2025",
        "first_period": "2005"
      }
    ]
  },
  "snapshot": {
    "census-bfs": {
      "release_id": 114,
      "release": "Monthly through 2026-09; annual county applications through 2025",
      "fingerprint": "c1b85c2b7bed115ee6f9639d68f769a4"
    }
  },
  "returned_count": 1,
  "complete": true,
  "next_offset": null,
  "limitations": [
    "Business applications are EIN applications, not new operating businesses. Actual, projected and spliced formation series remain distinct, with four/eight-quarter horizons and duration measured in quarters. Monthly county data is unavailable. Preserve seasonal adjustment, overlapping series, source industry aggregates and missing/suppressed markers. Annual county counts through 2025 use differential privacy and retain native source geography; no inferred points or local industry estimates."
  ],
  "source_attribution": {
    "census-bfs": "US Census Bureau — https://www.census.gov/econ/bfs/data.html"
  },
  "metric_definitions": {
    "series": "Business applications",
    "adjustment": "A: seasonally adjusted; U: not seasonally adjusted",
    "markers": "Original blank/D/S/NA markers remain null, never zero-filled; consult Census dictionaries",
    "industry": "Native BFS codes; NAICSMNF/NAICSRET/NAICSTW are source aggregates; NONAICS is unclassified"
  }
}

Captured 2026-11-05. Excerpt omits pagination credentials and may shorten nested records. Download verified source responses.

Coverage and interpretation

Monthly observations cover nation, Census regions and states, including source-published Puerto Rico series; county business applications are annual. Applications for EINs are not counts of new operating businesses. Preserve seasonal adjustment and actual/projected/spliced formation series with their four/eight-quarter horizons. Average duration is measured in quarters. Native industry aggregates and missing markers remain explicit; no county industry estimates or monthly county interpolation. County applications through 2025 use differential privacy and source-native county identifiers; values are not parcel locations or disclosure-free exact counts.

The active release shown here is a catalog snapshot. Check the live catalog and response provenance for current readiness. The underlying public source and Geoamcan access terms are separate; consult the source’s licensing and attribution requirements.

Source and methodology

Source: US Census Bureau. Geoamcan is an independent API provider, with no agency affiliation or endorsement. Read our data methodology for source handling, geographic joins and update practices.

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