Comparable baseline
Rhode Island at a glance
| Population | 1,114,521 | July 1, 2025; +1.6% since 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Business applications | 1,063 | July 2026, seasonally adjusted |
| Trailing-12-month applications | 12,592 | 1,129.8 per 100,000 residents |
| High-propensity applications | 327 | 30.8% of July applications |
| Projected employer formations | 69 | Census four-quarter projection for July's cohort |
| Small businesses | 116,149 | SBA 2025 profile; underlying employer and nonemployer data are from 2022 |
| Small-business employment | 224,480 | 51.1% of private employment in 2022 |
| Employer establishments | 29,510 | 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.
Rhode Island generates relatively few business applications even after adjusting for its small population. Census recorded 1,063 applications in July 2026, or 95.4 per 100,000 residents, the second-lowest state rate.
Among that relatively small pool, 327 applications, or 30.8%, met Census’s high-propensity definition, the sixth-highest share among states.
The application rate is low in both current windows
July applications were 9.7% above July 2025 but 4.6% below June. The 12,592 filings recorded over the full year through July rose 13.0% from the preceding period. Those growth rates ranked 41st and 39th, respectively.
Population adjustment does not change the low-volume conclusion. Rhode Island ranked 49th for its July application rate and 48th for its trailing-year rate of 1,129.8 per 100,000 residents. July filings were still 73.1% above the 614 recorded in July 2019, so low current intensity does not mean activity has fallen back to its pre-pandemic level.
Against the Northeast, Rhode Island’s trailing-year growth of 13.0% matched the regional median, but its application rate remained below the regional median of 1,288.0 per 100,000. The state is not uniquely slow-growing within the region; the clearer distinction is low application intensity.
Rhode Island’s population reached an estimated 1.11 million in July 2025, 1.6% above the 2020 Census base. The population and application series do not reveal why filing activity changed.
Employer-oriented indicators are stronger—but not outcomes
In addition to the sixth-ranked high-propensity share, Census projected 69 employer formations from the July cohort within four quarters. That equaled 6.49 projected formations per 100 applications, ranking 13th among states.
Neither measure records realized business openings. High-propensity status is an administrative classification based on characteristics associated with eventual payroll formation; the formations figure is a model estimate. They do not establish Rhode Island’s business success, survival, or hiring rate.
Rhode Island had a small application pool with a larger-than-usual employer-oriented component.
Small firms already employ a majority of private workers
The SBA reported 116,149 small businesses using 2022 data. The count included 23,791 small employer firms and 92,358 nonemployer businesses. Small firms employed 224,480 people, or 51.1% of the private-sector workforce, ranking 12th among states.
The relatively high employment share provides an important counterpoint to Rhode Island’s low application rate. Existing small employers can play a large role even when the flow of new EIN applications is modest.
Providence County shapes most statewide employment measures
Providence County accounted for 273,731 jobs, or 61.6% of employment covered by 2023 County Business Patterns. That was the fifth-highest leading-county concentration among states. Kent County added 15.5% and Washington County 10.4%, bringing the top-three share to 87.5%.
The statewide CBP universe contained 29,510 employer establishments and 444,256 covered private jobs. With nearly nine in ten of those jobs in the three largest counties, the state’s small geographic scale translates into a highly concentrated employer map.
Statewide employer statistics are therefore heavily weighted toward Providence County. The share measures workplace employment, not applications, residents, or business ownership.
Private educational services supplied Rhode Island’s sharpest industry specialization. The sector employed 30,561 people, or 6.9% of covered private workers—2.48 times the 50-state share. Because County Business Patterns excludes government establishments, the figure does not represent all public education employment.
Official starting points for a Rhode Island business
- Plan and file: The Department of State’s Business Assistant organizes formation, tax, and license steps by business type.
- Register taxes: The Division of Taxation explains registration for applicable sales, withholding, unemployment, and related accounts.
- Check regulated industries: The Department of Business Regulation lists the industries it oversees; the eLicensing portal handles covered applications and renewals.
- Get advice: Rhode Island SBDC provides confidential one-to-one counseling through the University of Rhode Island network.
Source and calculation note
Application figures 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 preceding 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.