Indiana startups survive longer than average
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More than half of new Hoosier businesses make it to their fifth year, per the latest federal data.
Why it matters: Keeping a startup alive is no small feat, and their ability to survive amid difficult conditions bodes well for the resilience of Indiana's small business sector and overall economic sentiment.
Driving the news: According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, 53.4% of Indiana businesses that opened in March 2019 were still up and running in March 2024.
- That's higher than the national average of 51.6%, and the 14th highest startup survival rate in the U.S.
Zoom out: West Virginia (57.6%), Connecticut (57.5%), and Alaska and Pennsylvania (both 56%) have the highest survival rates.
- Washington (41.1%), Missouri (43.2%) and Washington, D.C. (44.7%) have the lowest.
Zoom in: In honor of Global Entrepreneurship Week, Gov. Mike Braun's office released data Wednesday finding that businesses under five years old account for 74% of the state's new job growth.
- Indiana also ranks in the top five when looking at startups in an even shorter term, with 84% of businesses keeping their doors open after one year.
- About 1.2 million Indiana residents — about 43% of the overall workforce — are employed by small businesses, per the governor's office.
Between the lines: Americans filed nearly 5.5 million new business applications in 2023, or about 16.3 for every 1,000 residents, per the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data.
- Marion County saw some of the nation's largest gains with a state-leading 25.4 new business applications per 1,000 residents.
- That puts it in the top 100 U.S. counties.
State of play: Braun credits much of Indiana's success to state initiatives created to help entrepreneurs get their ideas off the ground.
- The Indiana Small Business Development Center assisted 5,817 entrepreneurs and helped 372 new businesses launch in 2025.
- The Community Collaboration Fund awarded more than $925,000 to accelerator projects statewide, including Indianapolis' Ignition at 16Tech incubator designed to support early-stage collegiate founders.
- Young entrepreneurs received backing from efforts like Indiana's new Youth Innovation & Entrepreneurship Caucus and the STARTedUP Challenge, the nation's largest annual high school pitch competition formerly known as Innovate WithIN.
What he's saying: "We're working to make Indiana the best place in the country to start and grow a business, and with the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Power Up Indiana, READI 2.0 and our new jobs-and-wages centered economic development model, we're well on our way to achieving that goal this Global Entrepreneurship Week," Braun said in a statement.
Go deeper: The big concerns of small businesses