The U.S. Census Bureau released new Business Formation Statistics for February 2026, according to a March 11 announcement. The data provide updated information on new business applications and formations across the United States and Puerto Rico.
The release of these statistics is important because it offers timely insights into trends in business creation, which can help policymakers, researchers, and the public understand economic activity and potential growth areas.
The Business Formation Statistics are produced monthly as a standard product by the Census Bureau. They are developed in collaboration with economists from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the University of Maryland, and the University of Notre Dame.
Each month, the full dataset includes twelve series: four related to business applications and eight related to business formations. These statistics are available at national, regional, and state levels. For Puerto Rico, four monthly business application series are included as part of the regular BFS product. The data sets include both seasonally adjusted and not seasonally adjusted figures.
There was no separate news release associated with this announcement; instead, it was distributed as a tip sheet.
