Virginia Tops Inc. 5000 Firms
Per Capita List

The Big Apple tops the overall metro region and city rankings, while Sheridan, Wyoming, and Lawrenceville, Georgia, bring in per-capita metro and city honors.

Brooklyn is one borough helping Metro New York to No. 1 among all U.S. metros by number of Inc. 5000 firms.

Photo of Prospect Park in Park Slope by Joe Buglewicz courtesy of NYC Tourism + Conventions

Studying the geographic dispersal of the 2024 Inc. 5000 continues to generate compelling findings at the state, metro and municipal levels.

After last week’s look at the top states by number of Inc. 5000 companies, this week we examine the top states by companies per capita and then drill down to the top metro areas and top municipalities.

Per-capita analysis of the states brings overall No. 5 Virginia up to No. 1. It is one of five states (including Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts and Illinois) to make the top 10 in both categories.

For metro regions, analysis shows which cities are carrying the load for their regions — and they’re not necessarily the communities named in the metro areas’ official names.

Based in Round Hill, Virginia, veteran-owned fencing and estate gate company Rugged Fences is No. 221 on this year’s Inc. 5000 list and one of the 269 firms vaulting Virginia to No. 1 in Inc. 5000 firms per capita.

Photo courtesy of Rugged Fences

Top 10 Metro Areas by Number of 2024 Inc. 5000 Companies

Where is the fastest growing location for the fastest-growing companies? Comparing this year’s totals to last year’s shows No. 1 New York City with the biggest increase, adding 37 companies to last year’s total of 355. No. 4 Chicagoland added 15 companies. No. 2 Washington, D.C., and No. 5 Greater Miami added 10 each.

The entire Top 10 from last year repeated with the exception of Greater Philadelphia, whose No. 10 spot this year was filled by the surging region of Greater Phoenix. With 122 firms, Philly drops to No. 12 behind Austin at No. 11 with 124. The only other metro area with 100 or more firms on the list is No. 13 Greater Denver with 105 companies.

Metro Houston is No. 14 on this year’s list but its namesake city is way up at No. 6 when the numbers are parsed by municipality instead of metro region, as the city proper accounts for 69 of the region’s 99 Inc. 5000 firms. A similar phenomenon occurs with No. 15-ranked metro region San Diego, whose namesake city, with 55 of the region’s 89 projects, jumps to No. 10 among municipalities.

In this case it’s instructive to look further down the list at the top 25 cities and beyond, where significant enclaves of Inc. 5000 companies exist in places that don’t even merit inclusion in their overall region’s names (noted here in italics):

With 40 companies, Scottsdale, Arizona, in the Phoenix region tops that unique list, besting the totals of entire metro areas such as Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Next among star suburbs and boroughs come the following:

Wyoming and Mississippi Communities Rise Up

Next, we look at the Top 10 Metros by Inc. 5000 Companies Per Capita, a ranking topped by Provo-Orem, Utah, last year, followed by Oxford, Mississippi, and Greater Austin, based on setting a minimum bar of at least three qualifying companies.

This year’s No. 1 per-capita metro didn’t even make the Top 10 last year: Sheridan, Wyoming, with a population of 32,100, is home to four fast-growing companies. By adding one company to its total and thus also attaining four Inc. 5000 companies, Oxford, with a population of 57,600, this year rises to No. 2. Here is the complete Top 10:

Notably, the nation’s capital is the only metro area to appear in both the cumulative and per-capita Top 10s. Provo-Orem, even with the math moving it to third place, has added five Inc. 5000 firms to last year’s total.

Breaking things down by firms per capita by municipality reveals even more communities doing more than their fair share to cultivate growth for their larger metro areas in places such as Atlanta, Los Angeles, Boston, Miami and Dallas-Fort Worth:

Castle Rock, Colorado, and its five Inc. 5000 companies are nicely perched between Denver and Colorado Springs, while Encinitas, California, is home to six firms in a location between San Diego and L.A.— Adam Bruns

Data entry and analysis for this report conducted by Karen Medernach, McKenzie Wright, Brian Espinoza and Daniel Boyer.

With a population of slightly over 32,000, Sheridan, Wyoming, boasts four Inc. 5000 companies to go with its rich outdoor recreation opportunities.

Photo courtesy of Sheridan Travel Tourism