A business in its first 90 days is buying everything at once: signage, a POS, insurance, a website, someone to run its Google profile. Whoever reaches the owner first usually gets the job.
There is no single list of new businesses. There are four public sources, each with a different catch. Here is what each one shows, how to pull it, and how to turn the names into people you can actually contact.
Published October 13, 2026
531,728
US business applications, August 2026
That is the Census Bureau's seasonally adjusted count for one month, down 7.8% from July (Census Business Formation Statistics). Each application is an EIN request filed for business purposes, so not every one becomes an open storefront. It still tells you the pool is large and refills every month.
Every LLC and corporation registers with the state, usually through the Secretary of State. That makes the state registry the earliest place a new business shows up by name, often weeks before it opens.
Some states publish these filings as open data you can download:
If your state only has a name search, search your state's open data portal for "business entities" or "new registrations" before giving up. Many states moved these datasets online in the last few years.
The catch: a filing is a legal entity, not a storefront. Expect holding companies, real estate LLCs, consultants working from home and filings that never turn into anything. Filter by entity name keywords that match the trades you serve ("salon", "cafe", "plumbing") and by address.
The Census Bureau's Business Formation Statistics will not give you a single name. What they give you is where and when new businesses are forming, by state and month, which is how you decide which market to work first.
Look at the "high-propensity" series, not just the total. The Census Bureau defines those as applications likely to turn into businesses with payroll, for example ones that say they are hiring or are filed in industries like accommodation and food services (BFS definitions). A state where that series is climbing is a state with real storefronts opening.
Storefront businesses need local permission to open, and that paperwork is often public. Health permits catch restaurants and cafes; business licenses catch salons, gyms and retail; building permits catch a tenant build-out months before the doors open.
Big cities publish these as open data. New York City's DOHMH restaurant inspection dataset lists every permitted food service establishment with its inspection history, so a restaurant whose first inspection is recent is usually one that just opened. We used the same dataset to count restaurants for our New York restaurants page.
The catch: every city does this differently. Search your city or county site for "open data", "business license list" or "new permits"; if nothing is published, a public records request usually works.
Google lets a business owner add an opening date up to one year ahead. The profile appears on Google 90 days before that date, and once the business opens it carries a "Recently opened" tag for 90 days (Google Business Profile Help). Until it opens, nobody can post reviews or photos on it.
So when you browse a category on Maps, those two signals mark the newest storefronts. A third, less formal one: a listing with only a handful of reviews, all from the last few weeks.
This is also where filings become leads. A name from the state registry that also has a Maps listing is a real, public-facing business, with a phone number, an address and often no website yet.
| Source | What it shows | How early | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| State business filings | Legal name, filing date, entity type, address | Days after the filing | Many filings are holding LLCs or home businesses with no storefront |
| Census Business Formation Statistics | Counts of new business applications by state and month | Monthly | Aggregate numbers only, no business names |
| City and county permits | Health permits, business licenses, building permits | Before or at opening | Every city publishes differently, some not at all |
| Google Maps opening date | Listings with a future opening date or "Recently opened" tag | Up to 90 days before and 90 days after opening | Only businesses whose owner set an opening date |
MapsLeadExtractor does not have a "new business" filter. What it does is the last two steps in bulk: it pulls the businesses listed in a category and city, flags the ones with no website and shows each one's review count, so the newest listings are easy to spot once you export to a spreadsheet and sort.
When you have the list, prioritize it and then read how to sell websites to local businesses for the pitch itself.
Combine four public sources: your state business registry for new filings, your city or county permit and license records, Google Maps listings that show a "Recently opened" tag or a future opening date, and Census Business Formation Statistics to see which states and months are busiest. Filings give you names first; Google Maps tells you which ones are real storefronts.
Yes, in some states. Oregon publishes a monthly "New Businesses Registered Last Month" dataset on its open data portal, and Colorado publishes its full business entity registry with a formation date you can sort by. Other states only offer a name search, so you have to check your own Secretary of State site.
No. A new LLC can be a holding company, a side project or a business that never opens. The Census Bureau tracks this directly: it separates all business applications from "high-propensity" applications, the ones likely to turn into businesses with payroll. Treat a filing as a lead to verify, not a confirmed customer.
The Census Bureau counted 531,728 business applications in August 2026, seasonally adjusted, down 7.8% from July. A business application is an EIN request filed for business purposes, so the number of businesses that actually open is lower.
Google lets owners set an opening date up to a year ahead. The profile appears on Google 90 days before that date and carries a "Recently opened" tag for 90 days after it. A listing with that tag, or with only a handful of very recent reviews, is a strong sign of a new business.
Run a free scan for your city and niche and see which businesses are on Google Maps without a website.
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