The U.S. has averaged more than 400,000 monthly applications for new businesses since the pandemic began in early 2020, according to U.S. Census data in a Madison.com report. In comparison, the highest single month for new business applications from 2004 until the start of the pandemic saw around 309,000 applications.
Government stimulus, low-interest rates, and fast-rising values for homes, stocks, and other assets through 2020 and 2021 have given more people access to the financial resources needed to start businesses. Additionally, record-high numbers of workers left jobs in search of better economic opportunities and many of these former employees started new businesses.
State and local policymakers will also say that business-friendly policies in their jurisdictions help motivate business creation, and to prove their point, the concentration of new business applications varies by geography.
