Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity : State Report 2005

Based on data from the 2005 Current Population Surveys (CPS), the state report of the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity offers insight into variation in entrepreneurial activity by state. Like the national report of the Kauffman Index, the state report measures the proportion of non-business-owning adults who create a new business each month.The 2005 report indicates that the five states with the highest rates of entrepreneurial activity were Vermont, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, while the five states with the lowest rates included Delaware, West Virginia, Alabama, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. Atlanta, Riverside, San Francisco, and Houston had the highest entrepreneurship rates among the fifteen largest metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) in the United States, while the large MSAs with the lowest startup rates included Detroit, Philadelphia, Boston, and Seattle.Overall, the Mountain and Pacific states boasted higher rates of entrepreneurial activity. The Middle Southern and Midwestern states, on the other hand, were characterized by lower startup rates