The U.S. Census Bureau has released its Business Formation Statistics (BFS) for August 2025, offering updated data on new business applications and formations across the United States. The BFS is a monthly dataset that tracks trends in business creation at national, regional, and state levels. It includes both seasonally adjusted and nonseasonally adjusted figures.
Developed by the Census Bureau 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, this data product aims to provide timely information for policymakers and researchers.
The release also features Monthly Puerto Rico Business Applications as an experimental addition. This product uses the same methodology as the standard BFS to track four monthly business application series specifically for Puerto Rico.
According to the Census Bureau: “The BFS provide timely and high frequency information on new business applications and formations in the United States. The BFS are a standard data product of the Census Bureau, developed in research collaboration with economists affiliated with 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 full BFS dataset consists of 12 series—four related to applications and eight to formations—and is made available each month.
There was no separate news release associated with this announcement; it was issued as a tip sheet only.
