Entrepreneurship
In 2023, the ratio of business starts to closures fell 12 percentage points but remained positive for a tenth year.
Unfavorable movement since the last available data
Benchmark: Maine’s ratio of business start-ups to closures will be positive and equal to or above the national average.
Overview
This entrepreneurship metric compares the number of business establishments that are started in Maine each year with the number that close. A start-up-to-closure ratio greater than 1 means more businesses are being created than closed each year.
In 2023, Maine’s ratio of start-ups to closures was 1.09, meaning 9% more businesses were created (3,591) than closed (3,289). This was just below to the U.S. ratio of 1.12 but it was the tenth year during which Maine’s ratio was positive. The creation of new businesses is a vital economic activity. Entrepreneurship contributes to innovation, creates jobs, and builds wealth. In a vibrant economy, people have the skills to identify and respond to business opportunities, access to capital, supports for starting and scaling businesses, and connections to human capital.
Note: This metric has been updated with a new data source (the U.S. Census Bureau’s Business Dynamics Statistics) that captures openings and closures of traditional business establishments. The previous data source captured these plus relocations of remote workers, which made it a less accurate measure of entrepreneurship.
Fig. A
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Ratio of Business Start-ups to Closures
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics