Comparable baseline
Montana at a glance
| Population | 1,144,694 | July 1, 2025; +5.3% since 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Business applications | 2,730 | July 2026, seasonally adjusted |
| Trailing-12-month applications | 32,253 | 2,817.6 per 100,000 residents |
| High-propensity applications | 776 | 28.4% of July applications |
| Projected employer formations | 135 | Census four-quarter projection for July's cohort |
| Small businesses | 141,011 | SBA 2025 profile; underlying employer and nonemployer data are from 2022 |
| Small-business employment | 264,567 | 66.3% of private employment in 2022 |
| Employer establishments | 42,566 | 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.
Small firms employed 264,567 people in the SBA’s latest state profile, equal to 66.3% of private employment—the highest share among all 50 states.
Current application activity is also high once population is considered. Montana recorded 2,730 seasonally adjusted business applications in July 2026, only 40th by raw count but fifth at 238.5 applications per 100,000 residents. That 35-place reversal is among the largest in the country.
High application intensity, ordinary recent growth
Montana recorded 32,253 applications during the 12 months ending in July 2026. Its rate of 2,817.6 per 100,000 residents ranked fourth nationally, behind Wyoming, Delaware, and Florida.
Growth was less exceptional. The trailing-year total increased 15.5%, equal to the Western median before rounding and rank 27 nationally. July applications were 12.6% above July 2025 but 8.8% below June. Montana therefore has a high level of application activity without standing out for current momentum.
The longer comparison is substantial: July applications were 157.3% above July 2019. Population grew 5.3% between the 2020 base and July 2025, fifth-fastest in the West and 13th nationally.
Small firms employ two-thirds of Montana’s private workforce
Small employer firms provided 264,567 jobs, or 66.3% of private employment—the highest share among the states. The employment share directly describes where private-sector workers are employed.
The SBA profile reports 141,011 small businesses using underlying 2022 data: 35,077 small employer firms and 105,934 nonemployer establishments. Nonemployers represented 75.1% of the combined count, the lowest share among states.
That distinction needs scale. Even the country’s lowest nonemployer share means three out of four businesses in the published total had no paid employees. Montana differs from other states at the margin; it does not have a business population dominated by employers.
Employment is spread among several counties
The 2023 County Business Patterns data counted 42,566 employer establishments and 409,312 employees. Yellowstone County held 75,637 employees, or 18.5% of the state total; Gallatin County held 59,252, or 14.5%; and Missoula County held 54,136, or 13.2%. The three together accounted for 46.2%, leaving more than half of measured employment elsewhere.
Billings, Bozeman, and Missoula are distinct employment centers, and most measured jobs lie outside their three counties.
Health care and social assistance was the largest sector, with 74,903 employees. Accommodation and food services employed 58,010 and represented 14.2% of private employment, 1.36 times the 50-state share. Retail trade’s 15.4% share was 1.34 times the national comparison. Those concentrations are consistent with a consumer- and visitor-facing employment base, but the sector data alone do not quantify tourism’s contribution.
CBP excludes most crop and animal production, so it is incomplete for Montana’s agricultural economy.
Official starting points in Montana
- The Secretary of State’s Business Services page and online portal handle entity filings and maintenance.
- The Department of Revenue’s business registration instructions cover applicable business-income, withholding, and miscellaneous tax accounts.
- Professional Boards and Licensing routes regulated occupations.
- The Department of Commerce publishes a Business Startup Checklist.
- Montana’s SBDC locations provide regional no-cost advising.
Source and calculation note
July comparisons use the seasonally adjusted July 2026 BFS release. The trailing-year total sums unadjusted applications from August 2025 through July 2026 and compares them with the prior 12 months. Rates use the July 1, 2025 population estimate of 1,144,694; ranks compare 50 states using unrounded values. Small-business figures use 2022 SBA profile components, and county/industry figures use 2023 CBP. Sources were retrieved or checked September 3, 2026.