10 States with the Most Startup Employees

In the hottest states in the country, tens of thousands of people are employed at startups – as many as 130,000 startup employees in California.

One of the reasons why Barack Obama loves startups and Steve Case loves startups is because they create jobs. According to a study by the Kauffman Foundation, startups tend to create more net jobs than older firms and weather economic downturns better. Between 1977 and 2005, startups created an average of 3 million jobs in their first year in business.

So where are these jobs, exactly? The Mattermark 2014 Startup Traction Report, released last December, has some insight into that question. They calculated the number of startup employees in each state based on startups with venture funding – so the actual numbers are even higher.

The full Startup Traction Report includes a wealth of data on the fastest-growing startups, regions, and industries (get it for $99). They used data from public sources like Crunchbase, AngelList, NASDAQ, the SEC, and the White House Office of Management & Budget, as well as private relationships they have with investors and entrepreneurs. Everything was measured for the 2014 fiscal year, which covers October 2013-September 2014.

Here are Mattermark’s top 10 states with the most startup employees:

1. California: 129,359 startup employees

Percent of population employed at startups: 0.3%

Monthly employee growth: 4.98%

2. Massachusetts: 37,598 startup employees

Percent of population: 0.6%

Monthly employee growth: 3.47%

3. New York: 34,853 startup employees

Percent of population: 0.2%

Monthly employee growth: 2.42%

4. Illinois: 16,001 startup employees

Percent of population: 0.1%

Monthly employee growth: 3.89%

5. Washington: 11,756 startup employees

Percent of population: 0.2%

Monthly employee growth: 2.94%

6. Texas: 11,622 startup employees

Percent of population: 0.04%

Monthly employee growth: 3.65%

7. Georgia: 8,642 startup employees

Percent of population: 0.09%

Monthly employee growth: 2.60%

8. Virginia: 6,338 startup employees

Percent of population: 0.08%

Monthly employee growth: 3.31%

9. Florida: 6,206 startup employees

Percent of population: 0.03%

Monthly employee growth: 1.46%

10. Tennessee: 5,435 startup employees