August 19, 2022
The rate of new businesses created in Broward County is surging according to the U.S. Census Bureau. About 84,000 new business applications were submitted in 2021, a 62% increase from 2019 and double the number of applications submitted as recently as 2015. According to the Economic Innovation Group, nationally "the ongoing surge in new business formation began to take off in the middle of 2020 and continues to to show strength even in the face of inflationary pressures."
During the pandemic, the surge in new business applications occurred all across the Sun Belt. A majority of the Sun Belt counties highlighted below experienced an increase in new business applications from 2019 to 2021 at a rate ranging from 60% to 70%. Fort Lauderdale/Broward County received double the number of new business applications of hot cities for new business starts and corporate relocations like Austin and Nashville.
The surge in new business creation over the past year is occurring in DowntownFTL as well. Across all sectors, there was a 9% increase in the total number of businesses based in DowntownFTL over the past year. About 1 in 5 new DowntownFTL businesses are from the professional services industry.
The United States appears to be at a 15-year high for new business formation, triggered by the disruptions caused by the pandemic. Going forward this trend has significant implications for the DowntownFTL and regional economy. These impacts can vary and have the potential to be far reaching, providing a major opportunity for rapidly evolving cities like DowntownFTL.