MEDIA RELEASE: Iowa shatters record for most new business filings in one year

DES MOINES - Secretary of State Paul Pate announces Iowans registered the highest amount of new business entities in state history during the 2021 fiscal year. 33,260 new businesses registered with the Secretary of State’s Office between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021. The mark breaks the previous record of 24,720 set in Fiscal Year 2019 and is a 35.8% increase from last year. This is the fifth time in six years Iowa has set a record for new business filings.

Additionally, Iowans set records for most new business filings in a single month twice in 2021. A new record of 2,940 was set in January, only to be broken again in March with 3,579 new business filings. The previous record for most new business filings in one month was 2,512, in May 2019.

“Despite the pandemic, this data shows that Iowa had a substantial amount of economic activity over the last twelve months,” Secretary Pate said. “I’m proud the work that my staff put in so that businesses could get off the ground. Although our lobby was closed to the public, we were here working behind the scenes to keep the wheels of commerce moving in Iowa.”

Secretary Pate launched the Fast Track Filing system in 2018 to make creating a new business in Iowa faster and easier than ever before. More than 87% of new business filings in FY 2021 were done using the Fast Track system. Several other types of business filings have been added to the system since then, with most of those filings being processed within one business day.

A graphic of New Business Filings by Fiscal Year over the last decade is available for your use at this link.

A graphic of New Business Filings by Month of Fiscal Year 2021 is available for your use at this link.

A list of active Iowa business entities is available at this link.

A soundbite from Secretary Pate is available for your use at this link.

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