eVenturing has several links on the latest Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity.
This detailed report (PDF) shows monthly startup rates among individual adults in America. Some of the key findings:
* In 2005, immigrants in the states started businesses at a rate of 0.35 percent compared with 0.28 percent for native-born citizens (that is, about 350/100,000 immigrants started a business monthly last year, roughly equaling 85,000 people).
* For last year, the overall number of people in America starting businesses was 0.29 percent or 464,000 people per month (a bit lower compared with 2004's 470,000 people starting enterprises).
* The 2005 rate among adult African Americans was 0.24 percent (roughly 46,700 people) -- an increase from 2004's rate of 0.21 percent.
* Top states in 2005 for entrepreneurial activity: Vermont, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. The lowest five states were Delaware, West Virginia, Alabama, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania.
North Carolina ranked #41 in the 2005 state report (PDF), which is slightly ahead of Virginia (#44) but behind South Carolina and Georgia.
An analysis of the fifteen largest metropolitan areas in the United States reveals that Atlanta, Riverside (CA), San Francisco and Houston had the highest rates of entrepreneurial activity. Detroit, Philadelphia, Boston and Seattle had the lowest rates of entrepreneurial activity. Data was not provided for specific regions in North Carolina such as Raleigh-Durham or Charlotte.