The U.S. Census Bureau has published the Business Formation Statistics (BFS) for January 2026, offering data on new business applications and formations across the United States and Puerto Rico. The BFS is a collaborative effort between the Census Bureau and economists from several institutions, including 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.
The monthly release provides access to all 12 series within the dataset—comprising four application series and eight formation series—covering national, regional, and state-level statistics. For Puerto Rico, four monthly business application series are included as part of the standard BFS product. Both seasonally adjusted and non-seasonally adjusted figures are available in this dataset.
According to the Census Bureau: “The BFS provide timely and high frequency information on new business applications and formations in the United States and Puerto Rico.”
There was no separate news release for this update; only a tip sheet was provided.
