Nationally in 2020, there were 4.6 HBA per 1,000 residents. As seen in the interactive image below, the states with the greatest number of HBA per 1,000 state residents in 2020 were Wyoming (12.2); Delaware (10.7); Florida (8.6); Georgia (7.6); and the District of Columbia (5.9). The states with the fewest number of high-propensity business applications per 1,000 state residents in 2020 were New Mexico (2.7); Kentucky (2.6); New Hampshire (2.6); Iowa (2.5); and West Virginia (2.1).
The charts below the map show the 15-year trends — as well as the split of all business applications compared to HBA — by state. While the trends in business applications in most states are similar to the national trend of explosive growth in 2020, several states were substantially different. For instance, Alaska, Idaho, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Vermont experienced spikes in business applications in the year or two before the 2020 pandemic and recession, while Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, New Mexico, Oregon, and West Virginia experienced consistently higher levels of business applications per 1,000 residents in the decade before the 2020 recession and smaller spikes in business applications during the recession.
Click here for the data used in this analysis.