[OC] Americans filed a record 6.2 million business applications in the past 12 months. The number planning to pay wages hit a record low.

Source: US Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics, monthly CSV at census.gov/econ/bfs (released Sept 11, 2026). US total, seasonally adjusted, rolling 12-month sums.

Tool: Python + matplotlib.

A few notes:

– “Plan to pay wages” is the Census WBA series: applications that list a first wages-paid date on IRS Form SS-4. It’s the earliest official signal of a new business that expects to have payroll.
– The chart starts in October 2008 because the wages series drops by about a quarter in a single month in late 2007, which is probably a processing change rather than behavior. The record low holds against the earlier years too, since those numbers were higher.
– The 2025–2026 decline is gradual month by month, not a one-month step.
– In January–August 2026, 6.9% of applications planned to pay wages. In the same months of 2024 it was 10.6%.
– An application is not a business. Many of these never do anything, which is kind of the point.

Add mine to the applications that don’t plan on paying employees. That being said I’m a single person LLC that makes pottery so I don’t need employees as of present. Plus this is mostly a side business since I have a main job as money is tight. But hey if a miracle happens and I become the biggest master potter in the PNW I guess I might think about adding people on.