Census Bureau data on new business applications in 2021 were recently
sorted out across more than 3,000 U.S. counties by Forbes Advisor. The No. 1 county was Sheridan
County, Wyoming, with 535 applications per 1,000 people. “Census data
estimates that 31,646 people live in the county,” the study stated, “and
there were 16,958 business applications during 2021, which equates to
every second person in the county submitting an application.” According
to the Census Bureau spreadsheet, that astounding number follows 11,968
applications in 2020.
Wait, what?
Since that number is hard to believe, I reached out this morning to
Sheridan County Planner Mark Reid, who told me, “ I think a lot of it
has to do with Wyoming’s easy, easy method to establish an LLC here.
It’s extremely simple, affordable, and given our favorable tax climate
in the state for business, it attracts many folks to do that. There is a
company that specializes in doing that, Wyoming Corporate Office in
Sheridan, Wyoming. I suspect that’s why you’re seeing so many here.
We’re not seeing vast numbers of new storefronts, offices, etc., being
built here by any means. I believe it’s LLC formation.”
Indeed, the Conway Projects Database shows scant evidence of major
corporate facility investment in Sheridan County, one of the few large
projects we’ve documented being a 200-job manufacturing plant expansion
announced last July by Absaroka Valley Ammunition, which itself can be
categorized as a startup.
The county was one of five Wyoming counties in the Top 10. At the same
time, three counties in the much more densely populated Greater Atlanta
area were also in the Top 10 for business applications. The most
business applications in 2021 were made in Los Angeles County, with a
total of 178,467. No. 2 was Miami-Dade County, where 135,710 were
submitted in 2021.
The Census Bureau earlier this month released business application and formation
statistics for December 2022 based on applications for an
Employer Identification Number (EIN) and by the first instance of
payroll tax liabilities for the corresponding business applications. The
highest number of business applications in December came in the retail
sector (70,422), while the leading category by percent increase since
November was professional services (2.6%, with 52,960 applications).
Adjusted for seasonal variation, there were 417,055 business
applications overall, a decrease of 0.3% compared to November 2022. The
graph above illustrates the surge in business applications since the
easing of pandemic-induced conditions. — Adam Bruns
Top 10 U.S. Counties by Highest Rate of Business Applications in 2021
Located in the heart of one of the most robust residential and
commercial centers in the United States, Fontana is the largest city in
San Bernardino County. This Southern California economic engine is home
to a diverse and skilled workforce, a multimodal transportation network
that includes major freeways, rail, and convenient access to an
international airport, and a vibrant business community comprised of
global corporations and highly successful small to mid-sized companies.
As a fast-growing economic center, the City of Fontana offers strategic
advantages:
10 miles from Ontario International Airport
Labor Shed: 4.7 million people
12th largest MSA among the 386 MSAs nationally
Committed to providing a supportive business-friendly environment,
Fontana is making major investments in the community through capital
improvements. These factors have created a lucrative and attractive
atmosphere that contributes to making Fontana a place where businesses
choose to establish, relocate or expand.
Belgium-based Tessenderlo Group’s Tessenderlo Kerley International
business unit in December held a groundbreaking ceremony to start
construction of a new liquid fertilizer plant at the Chemelot site in
Geleen, Netherlands, just to the north of Maastricht near the border
with Belgium. The plant is expected to be operational by mid-2024. It
will be the company’s second Thio-Sul® (ammonium thiosulfate/ATS)
manufacturing plant in Europe, after the 2017 launch of the first in
Rouen, France. Tessenderlo Kerley International Executive Vice President
Geert Gyselinck said the new plant further expands the company’s local
presence in the liquid fertilizer market for precision farming.
Approximately 8,000 employees in more than 200 companies work on the
800-hectare Chemelot site, one of the key industrial clusters in the
Netherlands. At Chemelot Industrial Park, “17 production companies are
active in 60 different plants, which are strongly interconnected, both
in terms of energy and raw material flows,” said the company’s news
release. “At these companies, and in the unique combination with the
Brightlands Chemelot Campus, a lot of work is being done on the
transition to sustainable production. Besides the energy transition, the
raw material transition is just as important. Chemelot’s ambition is to
have fully circular production by 2050. Precisely because the plants are
so interconnected, Chemelot is in an excellent position to achieve
this.”
Announced in October, this battery enclosures expansion project is one
of three in Michigan announced on the same day in October by
Ontario-based Magna. The company also is opening new facilities in
Shelby Township (powertrain) and Detroit (seating). “The developments
follow new business awards in these product areas, some of which support
the growing electrification market,” the company said, noting that the
new operations are expected to bring more than 1,500 new jobs to
Michigan. The St. Clair facility first opened in 2021 and currently
supplies steel battery enclosures to “a global automaker,” Magna said.
Operations in the expansion are expected to start in Q4 2023. Magna has
32 facilities and more than 10,000 employees throughout Michigan.
More than 40 biotech companies do business in the Sunflower State. One
of them is Scorpion Biological Services, which is investing $650 million
and creating 500 new jobs in Manhattan, Kansas.
State workforce services ensure businesses and talent reach new heights.
Mike Beene, assistant secretary of commerce at the Kansas Department of
Commerce, tells us how.
Wondering where to find the latest on Opportunity Zones?
Good Jobs First notes that the Hutchins Center on Fiscal &
Monetary Policy at Brookings Institution recently held a
conference on the topic. Findings were reported in this 11-page write-up by David
Wessel (familiar to Site Selection readers for this contribution on OZs) and Alex
Conner.
PHOTO OF THE
DAY
This photo of the Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial was made two years ago
after a ceremony that was part of NASA’s Day of Remembrance, Thursday,
January 28, 2021, at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
Photo by Bill Ingalls courtesy of
NASA
Each January NASA pauses to honor members of the NASA family who lost
their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery,
including the crews of Apollo 1 and space shuttles Challenger and
Columbia. In 2023, the Day of Remembrance is observed today, January 26,
and also marks the upcoming 20th anniversary of the loss of the Space
Shuttle Columbia on February 1, 2003. Today NASA Administrator Bill
Nelson will lead an observance at Arlington National Cemetery in
Virginia, which will begin with a traditional wreath-laying ceremony at
the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, followed by observances for the Apollo
1, Challenger, and Columbia crews at 1 p.m. EST. “NASA’s Day of
Remembrance is about pausing, remembering, and uplifting the legacies of
the NASA family who gave their lives to advance the cause of discovery,”
Nelson said last week.
Indeed, the Conway Projects Database shows scant evidence of major
corporate facility investment in Sheridan County, one of the few large
projects we’ve documented being a 200-job manufacturing plant expansion
announced last July by Absaroka Valley Ammunition, which itself can be
categorized as a startup.
