Comparable baseline
Illinois at a glance
| Population | 12,719,141 | July 1, 2025; -0.6% since 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Business applications | 18,288 | July 2026, seasonally adjusted |
| Trailing-12-month applications | 198,362 | 1,559.6 per 100,000 residents |
| High-propensity applications | 5,042 | 27.6% of July applications |
| Projected employer formations | 857 | Census four-quarter projection for July's cohort |
| Small businesses | 1,353,957 | SBA 2025 profile; underlying employer and nonemployer data are from 2022 |
| Small-business employment | 2,420,971 | 43.7% of private employment in 2022 |
| Employer establishments | 322,415 | 2023 County Business Patterns |
Application rankings cover the 50 states and use unrounded figures. Applications are qualifying EIN filings, not confirmed business openings. Measurement years differ because federal datasets are released on different schedules.
A large total, but not a high application rate
Illinois recorded 18,288 seasonally adjusted business applications in July 2026. Only five states recorded more. That ranking mainly describes scale: Illinois had an estimated 12.7 million residents in 2025, so raw volume needs population context.
Dividing the same application count by population changes the comparison. Illinois had 143.8 applications per 100,000 residents, ranking 31st among the 50 states. Across the latest 12 months, the state recorded 198,362 unadjusted applications, or 1,559.6 per 100,000 residents—27th nationally and just below the 50-state median of 1,588.1.
Both views are useful. The raw count shows the volume of administrative activity moving through Illinois. The rate shows that this activity was not unusually intense for a state of its size.
The 25-place drop was one of the country’s largest raw-to-per-capita ranking shifts.
Growth continued at a measured pace
July applications increased 10.4% from June and 16.1% from July 2025. The longer series tells a similar story: applications over the 12 months ending July 2026 were 14.5% higher than in the preceding 12 months. Illinois ranked 31st on that trailing-year growth measure, close to the middle of the states.
The July count has still moved considerably over time. It rose from 13,562 in July 2022 to 18,288 in July 2026, an increase of 34.8%. Compared with July 2019, the latest count was 93.5% higher. Those comparisons establish an elevated level relative to earlier Julys, not a record or an equivalent count of operating-business creation.
Illinois totals are heavily shaped by Cook County
The state’s employer geography is much more concentrated than its application ranking suggests. In 2023 County Business Patterns, Cook County accounted for 2,492,328 covered private-sector jobs, or 44.0% of the Illinois total. That was the seventh-highest leading-county share among the states.
DuPage County added 595,691 jobs and Lake County 337,069. Together, Cook, DuPage, and Lake held 60.5% of Illinois’s covered private employment. Statewide figures therefore describe a labor market with a very large Chicago-area center, not 102 county markets of equal weight.
Many small businesses, but a lower share of private employment
The SBA’s 2025 Illinois profile reported 1,353,957 small businesses, the sixth-largest state count, using underlying 2022 employer-firm and nonemployer data. Small businesses employed 2,420,971 people, or 43.7% of private-sector workers. That employment share ranked 43rd among the states.
The combined count includes nonemployer businesses with no paid employees, so it should not be read as a count of payroll firms. Illinois’s large small-business total coexists with a comparatively low small-firm share of private employment.
In the July application mix, 5,042 filings met the Census Bureau’s high-propensity criteria, or 27.6% of the total. Census projected 857 employer formations within four quarters from the July cohort. That projection is a model estimate, not an observed opening count or success rate.
Official resources for starting or operating an Illinois business
- Use the Illinois Secretary of State Business Services pages to search entities, review entity-specific forms and fees, file formation documents, and manage annual reports.
- Register for applicable state taxes and withholding through the Illinois Department of Revenue, generally using MyTax Illinois or Form REG-1.
- Check the IDFPR professions and industries directory if the business or an owner works in a regulated field.
- Find confidential guidance, training, planning, market research, and financing assistance through the Illinois SBDC network.
A Secretary of State filing does not replace local zoning, assumed-name, health, building, or operating requirements. Check the city and county where the business will operate.
Source and calculation note
BizFacts used the Census Business Formation Statistics revision available on September 3, 2026. July comparisons use seasonally adjusted applications; the trailing-year total sums unadjusted applications from August 2025 through July 2026 and compares them with the preceding 12 months. Per-capita rates use the Census July 1, 2025 population estimate. County and industry figures use 2023 County Business Patterns, while small-business counts and employment use the SBA 2025 profile’s principally 2022 components. Rankings use unrounded values and include the 50 states only.