There were 18 business licenses issued in Chester County in the first quarter of 2023 in Pennsylvania, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State.
This is an 88.1 percent decrease from the previous quarter when there were 151 licenses issued.
Pennsylvania suffered a surge of unemployment and business closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The average annual unemployment rate in the state more than doubled in 2020 to 9.1 percent. This was the highest annual unemployment rate in Pennsylvania since 2003. Since then, the unemployment rate has been decreasing, reaching 4.3 percent in early 2023.
Comparison of business licenses issued by County and Quarter
| County | Issued in Q1 2023 | Issued in Q4 2022 | Percentage change (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adams County | 5 | 14 | -64.3% |
| Allegheny County | 29 | 284 | -89.8% |
| Armstrong County | 4 | 10 | -60% |
| Beaver County | 1 | 13 | -92.3% |
| Berks County | 8 | 44 | -81.8% |
| Blair County | 3 | 22 | -86.4% |
| Bradford County | 1 | 5 | -80% |
| Bucks County | 16 | 169 | -90.5% |
| Butler County | 4 | 16 | -75% |
| Cambria County | 4 | 21 | -81% |
| Cameron County | 1 | 19 | -94.7% |
| Carbon County | 3 | 14 | -78.6% |
| Centre County | 4 | 24 | -83.3% |
| Chester County | 18 | 151 | -88.1% |
| Clarion County | 1 | 9 | -88.9% |
| Clinton County | 2 | 5 | -60% |
| Crawford County | 5 | 13 | -61.5% |
| Cumberland County | 8 | 72 | -88.9% |
| Dauphin County | 16 | 100 | -84% |
| Delaware County | 7 | 124 | -94.4% |
| Elk County | 1 | 0 | – |
| Erie County | 7 | 60 | -88.3% |
| Fayette County | 1 | 9 | -88.9% |
| Franklin County | 5 | 20 | -75% |
| Greene County | 1 | 2 | -50% |
| Huntingdon County | 1 | 10 | -90% |
| Indiana County | 1 | 6 | -83.3% |
| Jefferson County | 2 | 5 | -60% |
| Juniata County | 2 | 1 | 100% |
| Lackawanna County | 1 | 35 | -97.1% |
| Lancaster County | 20 | 72 | -72.2% |
| Lebanon County | 3 | 8 | -62.5% |
| Lehigh County | 9 | 98 | -90.8% |
| Luzerne County | 1 | 47 | -97.9% |
| Lycoming County | 2 | 16 | -87.5% |
| Mercer County | 4 | 10 | -60% |
| Monroe County | 5 | 45 | -88.9% |
| Montgomery County | 24 | 210 | -88.6% |
| Northampton County | 5 | 46 | -89.1% |
| Northumberland County | 2 | 11 | -81.8% |
| Perry County | 2 | 4 | -50% |
| Philadelphia County | 37 | 806 | -95.4% |
| Pike County | 1 | 3 | -66.7% |
| Potter County | 1 | 5 | -80% |
| Schuylkill County | 2 | 15 | -86.7% |
| Snyder County | 1 | 2 | -50% |
| Susquehanna County | 2 | 3 | -33.3% |
| Tioga County | 3 | 7 | -57.1% |
| Union County | 2 | 7 | -71.4% |
| Venango County | 1 | 1 | 0% |
| Washington County | 1 | 33 | -97% |
| Wayne County | 2 | 17 | -88.2% |
| Westmoreland County | 9 | 42 | -78.6% |
| York County | 9 | 84 | -89.3% |
