The U.S. Census Bureau today released the 2020 County Business Patterns (CBP). This annual series of statistics provides subnational economic data by industry.
These data show detailed annual information on the number of establishments, employment during the week of March 12, and first quarter and annual payroll at the national, state, metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area, combined statistical area, and county and congressional district levels for nearly 1,000 industries defined by the 2017 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). CBP also includes data for Puerto Rico and the Island Areas at the state and county equivalent levels.
The data are useful for studying economic activity of small areas. Federal agencies use the data to determine employee concentrations and trends by industry. Private businesses use the data to analyze market potential, measure the effectiveness of sales and advertising programs, set sales quotas, and develop budgets. State and local government offices use the data to assess business changes, develop fiscal policies, and plan future policies and programs.
CBP data are from the Business Register (BR), a database of all known single- and multi-establishment employer companies maintained and updated by the Census Bureau. It contains non-survey data, usually tax return information.
CBP datasets can be downloaded from 1986 to the current reference year. In addition, CBP tables from 2012 to the current reference year are available on data.census.gov.