Wyoming’s Sheridan County Leads Per-Capita Business Applications in 2025 Census Data

The U.S. Census Bureau’s latest release of EIN filing statistics reveals an 8% jump in business applications nationwide, reaching 5.6 million in 2025 compared with the previous year. Researchers matched these filings to 2025 county population figures to calculate applications per 1,000 residents, identifying Sheridan County, Wyoming as the leader with about 1,438 filings per thousand inhabitants. The county recorded 47,787 applications despite having only 33,241 residents, accounting for a sizable share of the state’s total.

Experts attribute the overall rise to a softer labor market that pushes unemployed workers toward entrepreneurship and to advances in artificial-intelligence that simplify startup operations. In Wyoming, a specialized industry offering low-cost formation services and registered-agent addresses makes it easy to file an EIN using a local address, inflating the county’s apparent activity. The report also lists other high-volume counties, though the focus remains on Sheridan’s per-capita dominance.