The Census Bureau's County Business Patterns survey is one of the most detailed public datasets on US economic activity. It covers establishment counts, employment, and annual payroll by industry and geography, down to the county level. The data is free but navigating the Census API and understanding the table structure requires time most analysts do not want to spend.
Why automate this?
Market researchers need employment and establishment data to size industries by geography. Site selection consultants use CBP data to assess labor markets before recommending locations. Economic developers track industry concentration and growth in their regions. Financial analysts use it to benchmark companies against local industry norms. The Census API works but requires knowledge of table codes, vintage years, and geographic FIPS codes. Automated extraction normalizes all of that into clean, analysis-ready output.
What data you get
The Census County Business Patterns scraper returns structured records including:
- NAICS industry code and description
- Geographic level (national, state, county, metro)
- Number of establishments
- Total employment (mid-March pay period)
- Annual payroll in thousands of dollars
- Establishment size class distribution
- Survey year
You can query by NAICS code, geographic area, or year range. Results are returned as JSON.
How it works
The scraper queries the Census Bureau API using the CBP dataset endpoints. It translates human-readable industry names and geographic inputs into the correct API parameters, handles the response format, and returns normalized records. You do not need to know FIPS codes or NAICS lookup tables.
Common use cases
Site selection consultants pull county-level employment data for target industries to assess workforce availability. Market sizing analysts query multiple years of establishment counts to measure industry growth rates. Economic development agencies track year-over-year changes in specific NAICS sectors within their jurisdiction. Researchers building industry databases use CBP as a baseline employment source.
Getting started
The actor runs on Apify. Provide an industry name or NAICS code, select your geographic scope, and run. No Census API key required. Output is structured JSON compatible with spreadsheets, databases, or visualization tools.
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