economy_establishments_county_year
Census CBP county-total establishments and size-class distribution (F1). Tier A-.
tier a-admin_record
overview
overview
3,135 counties x 5 years = 15,677 rows. CBP near-census of US establishments with paid employees.
current vintage — 2023 (released spring 2025)
history — CBP: 1986 to present (NAICS-based from 1998)
provenance
source & licensing
authority
U.S. Census Bureau
dataset
County Business Patterns (CBP, 2019–2023)
license
Public domain (U.S. Federal Government work)
citation
U.S. Census Bureau. County Business Patterns (CBP), 2019-2023.
schema
fields
| name | type | definition |
|---|---|---|
| annual_payroll_1000 | int64 · thousands of dollars | Total annual payroll paid to all employees in the county during the calendar year, reported in thousands of nominal dollars. Higher values indicate greater aggregate wage and salary income. |
| country_idkey | string | ISO alpha-2 country code (always 'US' for domestic tables).Part of primary key. |
| county_idkey | string | 5-character FIPS code identifying the county.Part of primary key. Joins dim.counties on county_id. |
| emp_nf | string | CBP noise flag for the employees field. Codes such as 'G' or 'H' indicate the employment figure was withheld or perturbed to avoid disclosure of individual business data. |
| employees | int64 · workers | Mid-March employment count across all establishments in the county, as reported in CBP. Subject to noise-flag suppression; see emp_nf for data quality codes. Higher values indicate a larger employed workforce. |
| n10_19 | int64 · establishments | Number of establishments in the county with 10 to 19 employees. Part of the CBP size-class distribution; higher values indicate more small employers in this size band. |
| n100_249 | int64 · establishments | Number of establishments in the county with 100 to 249 employees. Part of the CBP size-class distribution; higher values indicate more medium-to-large employers in this size band. |
| n1000 | int64 · establishments | Number of establishments in the county with 1,000 or more employees. Part of the CBP size-class distribution; higher values indicate more very large employers concentrated in the county. |
| n20_49 | int64 · establishments | Number of establishments in the county with 20 to 49 employees. Part of the CBP size-class distribution; higher values indicate more small-to-medium employers in this size band. |
| n250_499 | int64 · establishments | Number of establishments in the county with 250 to 499 employees. Part of the CBP size-class distribution; higher values indicate more large employers in this size band. |
| n5_9 | int64 · establishments | Number of establishments in the county with 5 to 9 employees. Part of the CBP size-class distribution; higher values indicate more small employers in this size band. |
| n50_99 | int64 · establishments | Number of establishments in the county with 50 to 99 employees. Part of the CBP size-class distribution; higher values indicate more medium employers in this size band. |
| n500_999 | int64 · establishments | Number of establishments in the county with 500 to 999 employees. Part of the CBP size-class distribution; higher values indicate more large employers in this size band. |
| state_idkey | string | 2-character FIPS code identifying the state.Part of primary key. Joins dim.states on state_id. |
| total_establishments | int64 · establishments | Total number of business establishments in the county for the reference year, as reported in the Census Bureau's County Business Patterns (CBP). Higher values indicate a larger local business presence. |
| yearkey | int64 | Reference year of the observation.Part of primary key. |
relationships
joins
primary key
county_id, state_id, country_id, year
common joins
dim.geographies on county_id
economy_industry_establishments_county_year_naics on (county_id, year)
economy_employment_levels_county_year on (county_id, year)
usage
how to use this table
method
CBP draws from Business Register; counts establishments by employment size class (1-4, 5-9, 10-19, 20-49, 50-99, 100-249, 250-499, 500-999, 1000+). 'Establishment' = single physical location.
do not use for
Self-employed/non-employer firms (excluded); government employment (excluded); month-to-month or current-quarter activity (annual snapshot ~1.5-year lag).
known issues
Small-county suppression: cells with <3 establishments or risk of disclosure are flagged. Establishments != firms (single firm can have many establishments).
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last updated · Jul 7, 2026