The 2012 edition of the annual “Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity,” published by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, found that entrepreneurial activity rates decreased in all U.S. regions in 2011 except the Northeast, which experienced a slight increase. Rates remain highest in the West and lowest in the Midwest.
Arizona had the highest entrepreneurial activity rate, with 520 per 100,000 adults creating businesses each month during 2011. Rounding out the top five highest rates were Texas (440 per 100,000 adults), California (440) Colorado (420) and Alaska (410). The states with the lowest rates of entrepreneurial activity were West Virginia (150 per 100,000 adults), Pennsylvania (160), Hawaii (180), Illinois (200), Indiana (200) and Virginia (200).
Among the United States’ 15 largest metropolitan statistical areas, Los Angeles had the highest entrepreneurial rate (580 per 100,000 adults) in 2011. Chicago and Detroit had the lowest rates at 180 per 100,000 adults. The states experiencing the largest increases in entrepreneurial activity rates over the past decade were Nevada (0.23 percent), Georgia (0.18), Massachusetts (0.16), Tennessee (0.15), California (0.13), Louisiana (0.12), and Florida (0.12).
