Since 2022, business consulting, marketing services, and technology industries have been clear favorites among entrepreneurs starting a new company in the United States. An analysis of 144,983 companies founded from January 2022 to September 2024 also shows that even though a lot of media attention these days goes to startups that work with AI, the more traditional industries, such as real estate, still hold their positions.
In this report, you will find a list of the most popular industries and a summary of the most popular states for founding your next company.
About the data
The dataset used for this analysis was cleaned, enriched, and analyzed by Coresignal. The information for analysis was collected from multiple public web sources, including professional networks and company review websites.
The majority of companies in the sample are small and medium-sized businesses (83.25% with fewer than ten employees), and 16.75% have more than 50 employees.
While most newly founded companies stay lean, close to 17% managed to scale rapidly.
49.54% of these companies are privately held, 15.64% are self-owned, and 11.7% are self-employed. 6.46% are non-profits, and only 3.92% were public companies on the day of the founding.
To conduct this analysis, we have:
- Filtered the company database by the founding year, type, and country.
- Compared the industries with the highest number of new companies founded.
- Identified the most popular states.
The data sample of 144,983 companies includes a balanced mix of enterprises that identified themselves as either B2B or B2C to capture trends across businesses focusing on different target audiences.
Top 10: Focus on consulting, marketing, and technology
The analysis reveals that Business Consulting and Services, Marketing Services, and Technology, Information, and Internet industries were the three most popular among founders looking to launch a new venture.
These sectors account for a significant portion of business activity, with Business Consulting and Services alone comprising more than 7% of the companies analyzed. This suggests a strong entrepreneurial focus on service-based industries catering to other businesses' needs. Traditional industries like real estate are also quite popular among entrepreneurs.
For the past several years, socially responsible organizations, such as non-profits or mental health care companies, have also been relatively popular, standing out among other entries in the top 10.
Business hubs: the leading states
We have also decided to check which states were the most popular among the founders, and out of the existing data sample, we focused on the 40,819 companies with their headquarters listed.
As expected, California, New York, and Texas led the way and were listed as the headquarters for most companies. These states, known for their robust economies and business-friendly environments, consistently attract entrepreneurs.
Interestingly, Colorado and Massachusetts—while not the largest states by population—stood out, contributing a notable share of new businesses, particularly in technology and information services. Their well-established innovation ecosystems, anchored by cities like Boulder and Boston, seem to drive their attractiveness for startups.
Despite their large populations, Ohio and Georgia are absent from the top contributors. This suggests that while these states are growing, they may not yet be leading in terms of new company formations in tech-driven or high-growth sectors compared to coastal states and established tech hubs.
Conclusion
One of the most exciting things about this report was the emergence of socially conscious businesses in the top 10. The rise of socially conscious businesses in the top 10 reflects a growing trend where consumers and investors prioritize companies that align with ethical values, such as sustainability, fair labor practices, and social responsibility. This shift indicates that profitability and positive impact are becoming increasingly intertwined.
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