{"schemaVersion":"1.0","id":"rs-2026-008","slug":"business-applications-planned-wages-by-state","title":"Business Applications With Planned Wages by State — Aug. 2025 to Jul. 2026","headline":"North Dakota Had the Highest Share of Business Applications With Planned Wages","summary":"North Dakota ranked first among the 50 states. 12.0% of its business applications listed a date to start paying wages. Wyoming ranked last at 3.5%.","published":"2026-08-13","modified":"2026-08-13","status":"published","supersedes":null,"supersededBy":null,"topic":{"slug":"business-formation","label":"Business formation"},"subtopics":["business applications","planned wages","state comparison"],"country":"United States","geographyLevel":"State","geographies":["North Dakota","Maine","Rhode Island","South Dakota","Alaska","Washington","West Virginia","Nebraska","Oregon","Massachusetts","Idaho","Oklahoma","California","Vermont","Kansas","New Hampshire","Iowa","Minnesota","Indiana","Texas","Tennessee","Hawaii","Wisconsin","Arkansas","Missouri","Nevada","Pennsylvania","Virginia","North Carolina","Alabama","Maryland","Illinois","Connecticut","Utah","New Jersey","Delaware","Michigan","South Carolina","New York","Montana","Mississippi","Arizona","Georgia","Ohio","New Mexico","Colorado","Louisiana","Kentucky","Florida","Wyoming"],"period":"August 2025–July 2026","metric":"Share of Business Applications with Planned Wages","provenance":{"primarySources":[{"agency":"U.S. Census Bureau","dataset":"Business Formation Statistics","period":"August 2025–July 2026","role":"Monthly Business Applications and Business Applications with Planned Wages","dataUrl":"https://www.census.gov/econ/bfs/csv/bfs_monthly.csv"},{"agency":"U.S. Census Bureau","dataset":"Business Formation Statistics Definitions","period":"Current","role":"Definition of Business Applications with Planned Wages","url":"https://www.census.gov/econ/bfs/definitions.html"}],"contextSources":[]},"transformation":{"calculationType":"aggregated","formula":"Applications with planned wages ÷ all business applications × 100","filters":["August 2025 through July 2026","50 states","Business Applications","Business Applications with Planned Wages"],"transformations":["Add the 12 monthly Business Application values for each state.","Add the 12 monthly Business Applications with Planned Wages values for each state.","Divide applications with planned wages by all business applications and multiply by 100.","Rank the 50 states by the resulting share."]},"findings":[{"claim":"North Dakota share","value":12,"unit":"percent","geography":"North Dakota"},{"claim":"Wyoming share","value":3.5,"unit":"percent","geography":"Wyoming"},{"claim":"United States share","value":7.1,"unit":"percent","geography":"United States"},{"claim":"North Dakota to Wyoming comparison","value":3.4,"unit":"times","geography":"North Dakota compared with Wyoming"},{"claim":"North Dakota to Wyoming gap","value":8.5,"unit":"percentage points","geography":"North Dakota compared with Wyoming"},{"claim":"United States Business Applications","value":6141390,"unit":"business applications","geography":"United States"},{"claim":"United States Business Applications with Planned Wages","value":439079,"unit":"business applications","geography":"United States"},{"claim":"Washington, D.C. share","value":7.7,"unit":"percent","geography":"Washington, D.C."}],"limitations":["This is not a measure of actual hiring.","A planned wage date does not mean a firm hired anyone.","Business Applications are also not a count of all new firms.","An IRS online system outage near the end of December 2025 affected that month's data.","The study does not tell us why the states differ."],"keywords":["business applications with planned wages","planned wages by state","Business Formation Statistics","North Dakota business applications","state business applications"],"aliases":["BA_WBA","planned wage date","business applications by state"],"citation":"RecurSave. “North Dakota Had the Highest Share of Business Applications With Planned Wages.” RecurSave Research, August 13, 2026. https://www.recursave.com/research/business-applications-planned-wages-by-state","canonicalUrl":"https://www.recursave.com/research/business-applications-planned-wages-by-state","hasDataset":true,"plannedWageRows":[{"rank":1,"state":"North Dakota","businessApplications":9691,"plannedWageApplications":1163,"share":12},{"rank":2,"state":"Maine","businessApplications":15057,"plannedWageApplications":1680,"share":11.2},{"rank":3,"state":"Rhode Island","businessApplications":12592,"plannedWageApplications":1248,"share":9.9},{"rank":4,"state":"South Dakota","businessApplications":13221,"plannedWageApplications":1305,"share":9.9},{"rank":5,"state":"Alaska","businessApplications":12703,"plannedWageApplications":1222,"share":9.6},{"rank":6,"state":"Washington","businessApplications":117106,"plannedWageApplications":11189,"share":9.6},{"rank":7,"state":"West Virginia","businessApplications":18327,"plannedWageApplications":1744,"share":9.5},{"rank":8,"state":"Nebraska","businessApplications":24261,"plannedWageApplications":2306,"share":9.5},{"rank":9,"state":"Oregon","businessApplications":63499,"plannedWageApplications":6035,"share":9.5},{"rank":10,"state":"Massachusetts","businessApplications":84897,"plannedWageApplications":7977,"share":9.4},{"rank":11,"state":"Idaho","businessApplications":36436,"plannedWageApplications":3368,"share":9.2},{"rank":12,"state":"Oklahoma","businessApplications":69235,"plannedWageApplications":6286,"share":9.1},{"rank":13,"state":"California","businessApplications":603909,"plannedWageApplications":54229,"share":9},{"rank":14,"state":"Vermont","businessApplications":8303,"plannedWageApplications":745,"share":9},{"rank":15,"state":"Kansas","businessApplications":42807,"plannedWageApplications":3781,"share":8.8},{"rank":16,"state":"New Hampshire","businessApplications":19691,"plannedWageApplications":1699,"share":8.6},{"rank":17,"state":"Iowa","businessApplications":37729,"plannedWageApplications":3215,"share":8.5},{"rank":18,"state":"Minnesota","businessApplications":76661,"plannedWageApplications":6242,"share":8.1},{"rank":19,"state":"Indiana","businessApplications":98265,"plannedWageApplications":7791,"share":7.9},{"rank":20,"state":"Texas","businessApplications":587453,"plannedWageApplications":46516,"share":7.9},{"rank":21,"state":"Tennessee","businessApplications":114989,"plannedWageApplications":9105,"share":7.9},{"rank":22,"state":"Hawaii","businessApplications":18591,"plannedWageApplications":1448,"share":7.8},{"rank":23,"state":"Wisconsin","businessApplications":79523,"plannedWageApplications":6171,"share":7.8},{"rank":24,"state":"Arkansas","businessApplications":45187,"plannedWageApplications":3476,"share":7.7},{"rank":25,"state":"Missouri","businessApplications":115274,"plannedWageApplications":8803,"share":7.6},{"rank":26,"state":"Nevada","businessApplications":69034,"plannedWageApplications":5235,"share":7.6},{"rank":27,"state":"Pennsylvania","businessApplications":167561,"plannedWageApplications":12497,"share":7.5},{"rank":28,"state":"Virginia","businessApplications":149096,"plannedWageApplications":11063,"share":7.4},{"rank":29,"state":"North Carolina","businessApplications":198245,"plannedWageApplications":14654,"share":7.4},{"rank":30,"state":"Alabama","businessApplications":77265,"plannedWageApplications":5670,"share":7.3},{"rank":31,"state":"Maryland","businessApplications":108517,"plannedWageApplications":7881,"share":7.3},{"rank":32,"state":"Illinois","businessApplications":198362,"plannedWageApplications":14385,"share":7.3},{"rank":33,"state":"Connecticut","businessApplications":54517,"plannedWageApplications":3808,"share":7},{"rank":34,"state":"Utah","businessApplications":83442,"plannedWageApplications":5827,"share":7},{"rank":35,"state":"New Jersey","businessApplications":173163,"plannedWageApplications":11823,"share":6.8},{"rank":36,"state":"Delaware","businessApplications":61046,"plannedWageApplications":4007,"share":6.6},{"rank":37,"state":"Michigan","businessApplications":167308,"plannedWageApplications":10948,"share":6.5},{"rank":38,"state":"South Carolina","businessApplications":102396,"plannedWageApplications":6664,"share":6.5},{"rank":39,"state":"New York","businessApplications":320898,"plannedWageApplications":20446,"share":6.4},{"rank":40,"state":"Montana","businessApplications":32253,"plannedWageApplications":2048,"share":6.3},{"rank":41,"state":"Mississippi","businessApplications":61494,"plannedWageApplications":3892,"share":6.3},{"rank":42,"state":"Arizona","businessApplications":154366,"plannedWageApplications":9661,"share":6.3},{"rank":43,"state":"Georgia","businessApplications":277705,"plannedWageApplications":17288,"share":6.2},{"rank":44,"state":"Ohio","businessApplications":183897,"plannedWageApplications":11312,"share":6.2},{"rank":45,"state":"New Mexico","businessApplications":43699,"plannedWageApplications":2621,"share":6},{"rank":46,"state":"Colorado","businessApplications":163722,"plannedWageApplications":9728,"share":5.9},{"rank":47,"state":"Louisiana","businessApplications":81556,"plannedWageApplications":4705,"share":5.8},{"rank":48,"state":"Kentucky","businessApplications":76291,"plannedWageApplications":4323,"share":5.7},{"rank":49,"state":"Florida","businessApplications":709158,"plannedWageApplications":35662,"share":5},{"rank":50,"state":"Wyoming","businessApplications":85212,"plannedWageApplications":2971,"share":3.5}],"metaDescription":"North Dakota ranked first for the share of business applications with planned wages. Its share was 12.0%. Wyoming ranked last at 3.5%."}