DES MOINES – Secretary of State Paul Pate announces Iowans set a record for new business filings for the third year in a row. The Secretary of State's Office is the business portal for Iowa. During the 2018 Fiscal Year, 23,649 new businesses were created in the state. The 2018 Fiscal Year ran from July 1, 2017-June 30, 2018.

There were 21,665 new businesses created in the 2017 Fiscal Year, and 20,300 in 2016. The 20,000 mark had never been surpassed before 2016.

"This is terrific news for Iowa and the state of our economy," Secretary Pate said. "Each of the past three years, more than 20,000 new businesses have launched in our state, and 2018 is by far our best year ever. This shows Iowans have more income that they are willing to invest and create jobs in our state."

Secretary Pate launched a new Fast Track Filing system in June that greatly expedites registering a business with the state. The average processing time is less than five minutes during regular business hours, and less than 24 hours during non-business hours.

A graph showing the number of new business filings over the past 10 years is available at this link.

A pie chart breakdown, by percentage, of the type of new business filings in FY 18 is available at this link..

A pie chart breakdown, by percentage, of the type of new business filings over the past 10 years is available at this link.

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