Comparable baseline
Mississippi at a glance
| Population | 2,954,160 | July 1, 2025; -0.1% since 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Business applications | 6,979 | July 2026, seasonally adjusted |
| Trailing-12-month applications | 61,494 | 2,081.6 per 100,000 residents |
| High-propensity applications | 1,267 | 18.2% of July applications |
| Projected employer formations | 169 | Census four-quarter projection for July's cohort |
| Small businesses | 294,768 | SBA 2025 profile; underlying employer and nonemployer data are from 2022 |
| Small-business employment | 444,113 | 47.0% of private employment in 2022 |
| Employer establishments | 60,465 | 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.
Mississippi is producing business applications at one of the fastest-growing rates in the country. Census recorded 6,979 applications in July 2026, 57.0% more than a year earlier. The 61,494 applications filed over the 12 months through July were up 30.7%, the fourth-fastest increase among states.
Yet the employer-oriented indicators point in a very different direction. Just 18.2% of July filings met Census’s high-propensity definition, the lowest share among states, and the agency’s modeled formations-to-applications ratio also ranked last. Mississippi’s headline is rapid filing activity—not a demonstrated surge in employer openings.
High growth is matched by a high application rate
Mississippi’s recent gains are not merely the result of starting from a small raw count. July produced 236.2 applications per 100,000 residents, ranking sixth, and the trailing-year rate ranked ninth at 2,081.6 per 100,000. The state ranked 28th by raw July volume, so population adjustment changes its national position substantially.
Mississippi also exceeded the South’s median on both broader measures. Its 30.7% trailing-year growth compared with a regional median of 19.3%, while its application rate of 2,081.6 per 100,000 was above the South’s 1,749.0 median.
Applications nearly tripled from 2,364 in July 2019 to 6,979 in July 2026. Mississippi’s estimated population was 2.95 million in July 2025, 0.1% below the 2020 Census base.
Business applications are qualifying EIN filings rather than confirmed openings. Census classified 1,267 July filings as high propensity and projected 169 employer formations from the cohort within four quarters. That projection equaled 2.42 formations per 100 applications. It is a model result—not an observed failure rate, conversion rate, or judgment about applicant quality.
Businesses without paid employees dominate the published count
The SBA reported 294,768 small businesses in Mississippi using 2022 federal data. The total combined 43,596 small employer firms with 251,172 nonemployer businesses. Businesses without paid employees represented 85.2% of the total, the fourth-highest state share.
Small firms employed 444,113 people, or 47.0% of private-sector employees, ranking 28th. The established business base is heavily nonemployer by count but close to the middle of the states in small-business employment share.
No single county represents Mississippi’s employer economy
Hinds County was the state’s largest county employment market in 2023, with 84,440 jobs, or 8.8% of employment covered by County Business Patterns. Harrison County held 7.8% and DeSoto County 6.6%; together, the top three counties accounted for just 23.2%.
Hinds County’s 8.8% was the smallest leading-county share among all 50 states, leaving Mississippi without one dominant county employment market.
Manufacturing is a substantial specialization
Manufacturing employed 146,261 people, or 15.3% of covered private workers. Its employment share was 1.73 times the 50-state share, making it a meaningful Mississippi specialization. Health care and social assistance was larger at 168,795 jobs, while retail trade employed 136,728.
Manufacturing provides context for the existing employer economy, not an explanation for application growth. Business Formation Statistics do not identify the industries behind the headline application total used here.
Official starting points for a Mississippi business
- Entity information: The Secretary of State’s Business Services division provides startup guidance, searches, and filing links.
- Online filing: Mississippi business documents are submitted through the Secretary of State’s filing portal.
- State taxes: The Department of Revenue’s registration page directs businesses to Taxpayer Access Point and explains activity-specific accounts.
- Assistance: The Mississippi Development Authority provides certification, procurement, and technical-assistance resources; Mississippi SBDC offers counseling statewide.
- Licenses: Requirements are spread across state boards, agencies, and local governments. Check the regulator for the profession or activity rather than assuming one filing covers every license.
Source and calculation note
Application data use the Census July 2026 Business Formation Statistics release. Monthly values are seasonally adjusted; trailing-year totals sum unadjusted applications from August 2025 through July 2026 and compare them with the prior August–July period. Rates use the July 1, 2025 population estimate. SBA measures use 2022 employer and nonemployer components. County and sector figures use 2023 County Business Patterns employment. BizFacts calculated changes, rates, regional medians, ratios, shares, location quotients, and 50-state ranks from sources retrieved September 3, 2026.