New research on the U.S.’s most entrepreneurial states for 2025 has identified Wyoming ranks as the most entrepreneurial region, with locals showing the highest interest in starting new businesses. As a leading indicator, top entrepreneurial states file almost twice as many business applications compared to the national average.
Overall, from the latest economic data, business applications for August 2025, adjusted for seasonal variation, were standing at 473,679, this represents an increase of 0.5 percent when compared to July 2025.
Research from the US Small Business Administration shows that the average failure rate for new businesses is the following:
- 70% of new businesses survive beyond two years
- 50% of new businesses survive beyond five years
- 30% of new businesses survive beyond ten years
- 25% of new businesses survive beyond fifteen years
The new findings arise from astudy conducted by Wave Connect, who analysed entrepreneurship across all 50 states using six factors: new business formation, existing business density, entrepreneurial motivation, job creation by startups, survival rates, and public interest in business formation.
All data was adjusted per 100,000 people for fair comparison, with each factor given different importance levels to create an overall entrepreneurship score.
The outcomes are:
| State | Business Applications per 100K | Businesses per 100K | % Who Started a Business by Choice, Not Need | % Jobs at Young Firms | Startup 1-Year Survival Rate | Monthly Searches for “How to Start a Business” per 100K | Entrepreneurship Strength Index |
| Wyoming | 10K | 8.6K | 85.18 | 3.94 | 76.56 | 759 | 99 |
| Montana | 2.4K | 6.7K | 75.76 | 4.14 | 81.04 | 571 | 57 |
| Utah | 1.9K | 4.5K | 91.40 | 4.07 | 81.83 | 596 | 56 |
| Delaware | 5.4K | 6.4K | 79.99 | 2.91 | 82.31 | 632 | 55 |
| Colorado | 2.2K | 6.4K | 72.59 | 3.64 | 81.95 | 683 | 54 |
| Florida | 2.7K | 6.7K | 86.08 | 4.00 | 80.49 | 416 | 50 |
| Idaho | 1.5K | 5K | 89.33 | 4.30 | 80.85 | 481 | 49 |
| California | 1.3K | 5.2K | 77.57 | 4.34 | 82.56 | 470 | 46 |
| North Dakota | 1K | 6.7K | 91.29 | 2.79 | 78.25 | 677 | 42 |
| Nevada | 1.9K | 4.4K | 76.36 | 3.77 | 83.21 | 540 | 41 |
According to the study, a state like Montana generates 2.4 thousand business applications annually and maintains nearly 6,700 companies per 100K residents. The state particularly excels in job creation, ranking third nationally with 4.1% of employment coming from new companies.
More specifically, the study states that 81% of Montana startups survive their first year, while 76% of entrepreneurs start businesses driven by opportunity rather than necessity. Montana residents also demonstrate strong online engagement seeking entrepreneurial guidance.
