The U.S. Census Bureau has released the Business Formation Statistics (BFS) for August 2025, offering updated data on new business applications and formations across the United States. The BFS provides monthly figures at the national, regional, and state levels, including both seasonally adjusted and nonseasonally adjusted data.
Developed in collaboration with economists from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the University of Maryland, and the University of Notre Dame, the BFS is a regular data product that aims to give timely insights into business activity trends.
Alongside this release, the Census Bureau introduced Monthly Puerto Rico Business Applications. This experimental dataset applies the same methodology as the existing BFS to track four series of business applications specific to Puerto Rico.
According to the Census Bureau: “The BFS provide timely and high frequency information on new business applications and formations in the United States. The BFS are a standard data product of the Census Bureau, developed in research collaboration with economists affiliated with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the University of Maryland, and the University of Notre Dame.”
No additional news release was issued for this announcement; it was distributed as a tip sheet only.
