New business statistics 2026: Colorado, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Texas

In short: our October 2026 New Business Pulse counted 19,733 new businesses in Colorado, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Texas, with filing or permit dates from Sep 17–Oct 18, 2026 (windows vary by state). 34% (6,730) scored 70 or higher for commercial insurance need. Texas had the most (8,057 new sales-tax permits in 15 days), retail & e-commerce was the largest tagged industry (3,833), and nearly every new construction (100%), restaurant and bar (99.9%) and trucking (99.7%) business scored 70+.

Key statistics

• 19,733 new businesses were counted in five states in our October 2026 Pulse, with filing or permit dates from Sep 17–Oct 18, 2026 (each state's window differs).
• 34% (6,730) scored 70 or higher on our 1–100 commercial insurance need score.
• Texas had the most: 8,057 new sales-tax permits over 15 days. Then Pennsylvania 4,519 (16 days), New York 3,479 (7 days), Colorado 2,861 (9 days), Connecticut 817 (9 days).
• 27% of new Texas permits (2,188 of 8,057) were new locations of businesses that already held a permit.
• Retail & E-commerce was the largest tagged industry (3,833, 19% of all), but only 2.4% of it scored 70+.
• 100% of 1,310 new construction businesses, 99.9% of 1,405 restaurants and bars and 99.7% of 749 trucking and transportation businesses scored 70+.
• 1,674 (8.5%) were holding shells (511) or real-estate holding entities (1,163), even after our shell filters; none scored 70+.
• 13% (2,642) couldn't be assigned an industry, because the name alone doesn't say what the business does.

All figures: Source: UncoveredList, New Business Pulse (October 2026): https://uncoveredlist.com/pulse (data snapshot Oct 19, 2026).

New businesses by state

Busiest area: New York, Pennsylvania and Texas by county (as filed; Texas = permit location); Colorado and Connecticut by city, because those states publish a city rather than a county. Texas counts are new sales-tax permits, not Secretary of State formations.

New York: New York publishes only a legal service-of-process address for new businesses, not a business location. Our score adds points for a confirmed business address, so New York filings tend to score a few points lower. This reflects the data the state publishes, not weaker demand. Why New York scores lower

Connecticut: until Oct. 19, 2026 our score added a small bonus when a state record included a published business email, and Connecticut is the only one of these states that publishes them. So this edition's Connecticut 70+ shares are higher than they would be today, and so are five-state industry shares that include Connecticut. Counts are unaffected. More in the Pulse.

New businesses by industry (all five states)

19 insurance industries plus a holding/investment-shell segment and Unclassified. Tags come from state NAICS codes, name rules and AI review, and some are wrong. See the methodology.

New businesses by state and industry

Counts of new businesses. Each state column covers that state's own window (see the state table).

Questions

How many new businesses were registered in Colorado, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Texas?

UncoveredList's October 2026 New Business Pulse counted 19,733 new businesses across the five states, with filing or permit dates from Sep 17–Oct 18, 2026. The windows differ by state: Colorado 2,861 (Oct 10–18, 2026); New York 3,479 (Oct 10–16, 2026); Pennsylvania 4,519 (Sep 17–Oct 2, 2026); Connecticut 817 (Oct 10–18, 2026); Texas 8,057 (Oct 3–17, 2026). It is not a full calendar month, so compare shares rather than raw counts across states.

What share of new businesses are likely to need commercial insurance?

34% (6,730 of 19,733) scored 70 or higher on UncoveredList's rules-based commercial insurance need score. The score is an estimate built from the industry and the state record, not an underwriting decision.

Which new businesses score highest for commercial insurance need?

The trades: 100% of 1,310 new construction businesses, 99.7% of 749 trucking and transportation businesses and 99.9% of 1,405 restaurants and bars scored 70+. None of the 2,103 professional-services businesses or 1,163 real-estate holding entities did.

Is this the same as the Census Bureau's business applications data?

No. The Census Bureau's Business Formation Statistics count applications for an Employer Identification Number (EIN). The Pulse counts state formation filings and, in Texas, new sales-tax permits, after filtering out shells and mail-drop addresses. The two measure different things and aren't directly comparable.

Can I use these numbers?

Yes. The data is licensed CC BY 4.0, so you can share and adapt it, including commercially, with attribution. Cite it as: Source: UncoveredList, New Business Pulse (October 2026): https://uncoveredlist.com/pulse, and add the state's date window.

Methods and limits

• Source: the New Business Pulse, October 2026, built from official state open-data portals (Colorado and Connecticut Secretaries of State, New York and Pennsylvania Departments of State, Texas Comptroller). See Data sources.
• What's counted: new state formation filings and, in Texas, new sales-tax permits, after our filters for holding companies, registered-agent mail drops and shared virtual-office addresses. Dates are the state's filing, formation or permit date. This is not the Census Bureau's count of EIN applications; Census's October 2026 Business Formation Statistics are scheduled for November 12, 2026.
• Windows: Sep 17–Oct 18, 2026 overall, different for each state and shorter than a month. Pennsylvania's window ends Oct 2, 2026 because the state's file lags about two weeks.
• Scores: a rules-based 1–100 estimate of commercial insurance need; "scored 70+" is our high-need threshold. It reflects the industry and how much each state publishes, not underwriting. Full detail in our Methodology.
• No trend yet: our data starts with this period, so there are no month-over-month changes. We update this page when we publish a new Pulse edition.
• Privacy: aggregate counts only, never individual business records or personal data.

License: data licensed under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: Source: UncoveredList, New Business Pulse (October 2026): https://uncoveredlist.com/pulse, with the state's date window. Embedding or quoting? See Embed & cite and our press page.

Read the full October 2026 PulseState × industry CSVMethodology