New business formations by state: May 2026
Published 2026-10-16. Updated 2026-10-16. Covers filings dated 2026-05-01 to 2026-05-31.
In May 2026, AlphaLeads recorded 169,252 new business filings across 8 of the 9 states it tracks, led by Florida (64,313), Texas (42,387) and New York (22,629). Idaho is not counted, because we do not hold a complete May 2026 for it. The table gives the reason. Across the 7 states with complete data in both April 2026 and May 2026, filings were down 6.5% from April 2026 (178,756 to 167,201).
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New business filings by state, May 2026
| State | New filings | Change vs April 2026 | Most common entity type |
| Florida | 64,313 | -11.3% | Domestic LLC (88%) |
| Texas | 42,387 | -4.4% | n/a |
| New York | 22,629 | -4.5% | Domestic Limited Liability Company (67%) |
| Colorado | 21,174 | +2.7% | n/a |
| Pennsylvania | 10,005 | -4.0% | Domestic Limited Liability Company (90%) |
| Connecticut | 5,544 | -7.1% | LLC (88%) |
| New Mexico | 2,051 | n/a | LLC (100%) |
| Alaska | 1,149 | -5.0% | LLC (89%) |
| Total, 8 states | 169,252 | -6.5%* | |
| Idaho | Not counted: our Idaho collector is currently limited by the state registry search, which returns at most 500 results per request, so Idaho totals undercount real filings until that is fixed |
Change compares each state with its own April 2026 figure and reads n/a where we do not hold a complete April 2026 for that state. * The change on the total covers only the 7 states with complete data in both months (178,756 to 167,201). Texas and Colorado publish internal entity codes rather than names, so the entity type column reads n/a rather than a guessed label. The records we collect for New Mexico carry a single entity type, so that share is 100% by construction.
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Methodology
- What counts. One row per new business entity filing whose filing date, as recorded by the state, falls between 2026-05-01 and 2026-05-31. Each filing is assigned to the state whose registry published it, not to the business's mailing address. We count operating business entity types: LLCs, corporations, professional entities such as PLLCs and PCs, limited partnerships and LLPs. Texas sales tax permits and Florida fictitious name (DBA) registrations are registrations rather than formations and are not counted.
- Not official totals. These are filings observed by AlphaLeads in public state registry records, not totals published by any state. Each state publishes a different set of entity types, so the figures are not a like for like ranking between states.
- Sources. The 9 states covered and the agency that publishes each registry:
- Florida: Florida Division of Corporations (Sunbiz), Department of State
- Texas: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, which publishes Secretary of State charter records for registered entities
- New York: New York Department of State, Division of Corporations
- Colorado: Colorado Secretary of State
- Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations
- Connecticut: Connecticut Secretary of the State
- Idaho: Idaho Secretary of State
- New Mexico: New Mexico Secretary of State
- Alaska: Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development, Division of Corporations
- Complete months only. A state is counted for a month only when the state's own publishing has run past the end of the month, we hold at least 90% of the month's business days, its typical daily volume that month sits between 60% and 160% of its own normal level, and weekend dated filings are present where the state normally has them. A state that fails any check is listed as not counted, with the reason, instead of being included with a misleading number.
- When a report is published. Once no state is still publishing the month and at least 6 of the 9 states are complete. A state still publishing 35 days after the month ends is listed as not counted and added if it completes later, which changes the Updated date above.
- Not the Census series. This is not the U.S. Census Bureau's Business Formation Statistics, a separate national series on business applications and formations. The two measure different things and should not be read as the same number.
- Data notices. Some states ask that a notice accompany their data. See data sources.
State data pages
Monthly history, entity types and industry mix for each state: Florida · Texas · New York · Colorado · Pennsylvania · Connecticut · Idaho · New Mexico · Alaska.
The records behind these numbers
AlphaLeads delivers every one of these filings as a daily CSV, with the business name, owner or agent where published, mailing address, entity type and industry classification. Pro adds a verified company website, email and phone where one exists.
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