Applications for U.S. employer identification numbers totaled a seasonally adjusted 501,609 in October, down 6 percent from September, according to the Census Bureau's Business Formation Statistics. The measure tracks tax-ID applications associated with business activity; it does not mean that every applicant opened, hired workers or survived as an operating company.
The high-propensity category, which uses application characteristics associated with a greater likelihood of becoming an employer, totaled 144,314 and fell 2 percent. Applications stating a plan to pay wages were 34,131, down 4.5 percent. Applications submitted by corporations increased 0.4 percent to 41,137.
Regional patterns varied. The Northeast recorded 74,467 total applications, a 0.5 percent decline from September, while high-propensity applications in the region were nearly unchanged at 23,474. The Midwest fell 9.5 percent, the South 8.5 percent and the West 2.1 percent in total applications. These are broad regions and do not describe New York alone.
The October release includes the program's annual update. Census revised underlying industry codes for the previous five years when more detailed administrative information was available, updated business-formation series from the Business Dynamics Statistics program and recalculated seasonal factors. The revised history should be used for comparisons rather than mixing the new October figure with an unrevised older table.
Business applications are based on IRS Form SS-4 filings for employer identification numbers. Some filings represent planned ventures that never begin operations, entities created for administrative reasons or businesses that remain without payroll employees. The statistics are valuable because they arrive quickly, but their meaning is narrower than a count of storefront openings or incorporated companies.
The program also estimates employer business formations by identifying the first payroll-tax liability linked to an earlier application. That later milestone is closer to the creation of an employer firm, but it arrives with uncertainty and revisions. The time between an application and payroll activity can vary by industry, financing and local approvals.
For New York policymakers, regional and state files can help show whether application activity is broad or concentrated. A useful local analysis would compare New York with similar states, separate major industries and account for population. Raw application totals alone can make a large state appear more entrepreneurial simply because it has more residents and businesses.
For prospective owners, the decline is not advice about whether to start a company. Demand, financing, licensing, taxes and personal risk matter more to an individual decision than the national monthly count. An EIN is one administrative step, not evidence that a business model, lease or source of working capital is ready.
The 6 percent monthly decline follows a period in which applications remained well above typical pre-2020 levels, according to the Census time series. That longer context does not guarantee future formations. It does show why a one-month move should be evaluated within the revised series rather than described as a collapse or surge by itself.
The next monthly release is scheduled for December 11. October's report indicates fewer applications than September, with a smaller decline in the high-propensity subset and a slight increase among corporate filings. Because the annual update changed historical values, month-to-month charts should be refreshed from the current data files. The clearest follow-up will be whether those applications translate into projected and observed employer formations over subsequent quarters.
Primary sources: Census Bureau Business Formation Statistics release; Census Bureau Business Formation Statistics data page. Reviewed November 13, 2026. Development: Census report released November 12, 2026.