Census Business Formation Statistics (BFS) Scraper

Extract U.S. Census Bureau Business Formation Statistics (BFS) via the official Census API — no web scraping required. Get weekly and monthly new business application counts by state, NAICS industry sector, and application type, including high-propensity applications that signal real economic activity.

Data fields extracted:

Field	Description
time	Month period (YYYY-MM, e.g. 2024-06)
stateFips	Two-digit state FIPS code (e.g. 06 for California)
geography	Human-readable geography label (United States or State FIPS XX)
categoryCode	NAICS sector or TOTAL for all industries
dataTypeCode	Application type code (BA_BA, BA_WBA, BA_HBA, BA_CBA)
dataTypeLabel	Human-readable label for the data type
cellValue	Business application count (integer)
seasonallyAdj	Whether the value is seasonally adjusted (yes / no)
timeSlotId	Time slot identifier (M for monthly)
timeSlotDate	Full date of the time slot
timeSlotName	Name/label for the time slot
errorData	Margin-of-error data (if available)

Application type codes:

• BA_BA — Total Business Applications (all types)
• BA_WBA — Applications with Planned Wages (likely hire employees)
• BA_HBA — High-Propensity Applications (most likely to become active employer businesses)
• BA_CBA — Corporate Business Applications

A free Census API key is required. Registration takes under a minute at api.census.gov/data/key_signup.html.

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How to Scrape Census Business Formation Statistics

Follow these steps to extract BFS data for economic analysis, market research, or B2B lead generation signals.

Step 1 — Get a free Census API key

Go to https://api.census.gov/data/key_signup.html and fill out the form. You'll receive a 40-character key by email within seconds. No credit card required.

Step 2 — Configure the Actor

Open the Actor's Input tab and enter:

1. Census API Key — paste your key. It is stored as a secret (never logged or exposed).
2. Start Time — earliest month to fetch (e.g. 2024-01). Leave blank for last 12 months.
3. End Time — latest month to fetch (e.g. 2024-12). Leave blank for current month.
4. State FIPS Code — two-digit FIPS to filter by state (e.g. 06 for California). Leave blank for national U.S. totals.
5. Data Type Code — choose one type or leave blank to fetch all four types.
6. Category / NAICS Sector — TOTAL for all industries, or a NAICS sector code (e.g. 62 for Healthcare, 54 for Professional Services).
7. Seasonally Adjusted — no for raw counts, yes for seasonally adjusted figures.
8. Max Results — cap the number of rows returned (default 500, 0 = unlimited).

Step 3 — Run the Actor

Click Start. The Actor queries the Census Bureau's EITS/BFS timeseries API for each month in your range and streams the results into the dataset in batches.

Step 4 — Download your data

Use the Export button to download as JSON, CSV, XLSX, or XML. Or consume results via the Apify API.

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Pricing

This Actor uses Pay Per Result pricing:

Run type	Approx. cost
1 month × 1 data type × national	~1 record → ~$0.003
12 months × 4 data types × national	~48 records → ~$0.14
12 months × 4 data types × all 50 states	~2,400 records → ~$7.20

You also pay Apify platform compute (typically $0.005–$0.02 per run for this Actor's lightweight requests).

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Input Example

{
    "apiKey": "YOUR_CENSUS_API_KEY_HERE",
    "startTime": "2024-01",
    "endTime": "2024-12",
    "state": "06",
    "dataTypeCode": "BA_HBA",
    "categoryCode": "TOTAL",
    "seasonallyAdj": "no",
    "maxResults": 500
}

Output Example

[
    {
        "time": "2024-06",
        "stateFips": "06",
        "geography": "State FIPS 06",
        "categoryCode": "TOTAL",
        "dataTypeCode": "BA_HBA",
        "dataTypeLabel": "High-Propensity Business Applications",
        "cellValue": 4821,
        "seasonallyAdj": "no",
        "timeSlotId": "M",
        "timeSlotDate": "2024-06-01",
        "timeSlotName": "June 2024",
        "errorData": ""
    }
]

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NAICS Sector Codes

Code	Sector
TOTAL	All Industries
11	Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing
21	Mining, Quarrying, Oil & Gas
22	Utilities
23	Construction
31	Manufacturing
42	Wholesale Trade
44	Retail Trade
48	Transportation & Warehousing
51	Information
52	Finance & Insurance
53	Real Estate
54	Professional, Scientific & Technical Services
56	Administrative & Support Services
61	Educational Services
62	Health Care & Social Assistance
71	Arts, Entertainment & Recreation
72	Accommodation & Food Services
81	Other Services

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Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to pay for the Census API? No. The Census API is completely free. You only pay for Apify compute and per-result pricing to use this Actor.

How recent is the data? The Census Bureau publishes BFS data with approximately a 3–4 week lag. Monthly data is typically available by the end of the following month.

Why am I getting no results for a specific time period? BFS monthly data coverage starts from around 2004. Very recent months may not yet be published. Try an earlier time range (e.g. 2023-01 to 2024-12).

What's the difference between BA_BA and BA_HBA? BA_BA counts all Employer Identification Number (EIN) applications. BA_HBA (High-Propensity) is a subset filtered by Census models to identify applications most likely to become active employer businesses — a stronger leading indicator of business formation.

Can I get weekly data? Yes — BFS also publishes weekly data. The current Actor returns monthly data (time_slot_id=M). For weekly data, contact us via the support link below.

My API key isn't working — what should I check?

1. Make sure you activated the key by clicking the link in the Census confirmation email.
2. Check for extra spaces before/after the key string.
3. Keys typically activate within a few minutes of email receipt.

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Legal Disclaimer

This Actor uses the U.S. Census Bureau's public API. Census BFS data is published by a U.S. government agency and is in the public domain. This Actor does not scrape or circumvent any website — it queries the official Census API endpoint. Usage of this Actor is subject to Apify's Terms of Service. The Actor developer is not affiliated with the U.S. Census Bureau.

For questions or support, visit apify.com/seatsignal.