Comparable baseline
Kansas at a glance
| Population | 2,977,220 | July 1, 2025; +1.3% since 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Business applications | 4,392 | July 2026, seasonally adjusted |
| Trailing-12-month applications | 42,807 | 1,437.8 per 100,000 residents |
| High-propensity applications | 1,062 | 24.2% of July applications |
| Projected employer formations | 251 | Census four-quarter projection for July's cohort |
| Small businesses | 273,419 | SBA 2025 profile; underlying employer and nonemployer data are from 2022 |
| Small-business employment | 599,134 | 48.9% of private employment in 2022 |
| Employer establishments | 76,139 | 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.
The acceleration extends beyond one month
Kansas recorded 4,392 seasonally adjusted business applications in July 2026, up 52.1% from July 2025. That was the fourth-fastest year-over-year increase among the states. Unlike a one-month spike, the broader series supports the same direction: the 42,807 unadjusted applications recorded from August 2025 through July 2026 were 30.5% higher than in the preceding 12 months, ranking fifth.
The July sequence shows how abrupt the change was. Kansas recorded 2,585 applications in July 2022, 2,943 in 2023, 2,628 in 2024, and 2,888 in 2025 before rising to 4,392 in 2026. The latest figure was 69.9% above July 2022 and 146.2% above July 2019.
Kansas therefore has one of the clearest current application-growth stories in the country. What it does not have—at least yet—is one of the highest application levels.
Fast growth from a middle-to-lower rate
Kansas had 147.5 July applications per 100,000 residents, ranking 29th among the states. Across the trailing year, it recorded 1,437.8 applications per 100,000, ranking 35th and below the 50-state median of 1,588.1.
The state’s estimated population was 2,977,220 in 2025, up 1.3% from 2020 and ranking 35th for population growth. That demographic change is useful context, but it is far too modest to explain a 30.5% application increase by itself.
Those rankings do not weaken the growth finding. They define it more accurately: Kansas is accelerating from a modest population-adjusted base. Calling it a high-rate state would confuse the direction of change with the current level.
Of the July total, 1,062 applications met Census high-propensity criteria, or 24.2%. Census projected 251 employer formations within four quarters from the cohort, equivalent to 5.71 per 100 applications. The high-propensity share ranked 31st and the model ratio 17th—neither as unusual as the growth rate.
Applications are qualifying EIN filings, not confirmed openings. The Census projection estimates future employer formations and should not be read as a conversion or success rate.
Two employer centers shape the state
Kansas’s covered private employment is anchored by two distinct markets. Johnson County accounted for 352,238 jobs, or 28.2% of the state total, in 2023 County Business Patterns. Sedgwick County accounted for 237,173 jobs, or 19.0%. Add Wyandotte County’s 79,042 jobs, and the three held 53.5% of covered private employment.
This is not a single-metro concentration. Johnson and Wyandotte sit on the Kansas side of the Kansas City region, while Sedgwick contains Wichita. A statewide business considering customers, hiring, or facilities would encounter two leading employment poles with different local institutions and requirements.
The geography figures describe workplaces, not where business applications originated. They explain the existing employer map but do not identify the source of the recent filing increase.
Manufacturing and small firms in the existing economy
Manufacturing employed 170,492 people in the 2023 CBP data, or 13.65% of covered private employment. That share was about 1.54 times the 50-state share. The sector is a meaningful part of Kansas’s employer structure, though the data do not show that manufacturers drove recent applications.
The SBA’s 2025 profile reported 273,419 small businesses using primarily 2022 employer and nonemployer components. Small firms employed 599,134 people, or 48.9% of private-sector workers, ranking 17th among the states. The figure places small-business employment above the national state median without making Kansas an extreme.
These operating-economy facts give the rapid application growth context. They do not establish what the 2026 applicants sell, where they will operate, or whether they will hire.
Official resources for Kansas businesses
- Use the Kansas Secretary of State’s registration guide for entity-specific filings and name searches. The state notes that sole proprietors do not register with the Secretary of State and general partnerships are not required to do so.
- Register for applicable state taxes through the Kansas Department of Revenue.
- Use Kansas Business One Stop to navigate cross-agency startup and operating requirements; licenses remain activity-specific.
- Find advising, capital, certification, and regional resources through the Kansas Department of Commerce Office of Small Business.
City and county zoning, occupation, and operating requirements can apply even when a Secretary of State filing does not.
Source and calculation note
BizFacts used the Census Business Formation Statistics revision available September 3, 2026. July figures and month-to-month/year-to-year changes are seasonally adjusted. The trailing-year total is the unadjusted sum from August 2025 through July 2026, compared with the prior 12 months. Population-adjusted rates use the July 1, 2025 Census estimate. County and industry employment use 2023 County Business Patterns; small-business figures use the SBA 2025 profile’s principally 2022 components. Rankings include the 50 states only and use unrounded values.