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10 Worcester Business Journal | April 15, 2024 | wbjournal.com Aer 2023 set another new high for new business starts in the region, 2024 began with the most new businesses founded in a single month since tracking began Another record for Central Mass. startups PHOTO | MATT WRIGHT BY MICA KANNER-MASCOLO WBJ Staff Writer I n January, more businesses were incorporated in Central Massachu- setts than in any other month since at least January 2017, outpacing the state as a whole, which also set a record for new business starts. With 365 new businesses started in Jan- uary, Central Massachusetts made up just over 20% of the statewide total of 1,763. Worcester and Framingham led the area, establishing 48 and 41 businesses, respec- tively, according to a data analysis by WBJ of data provided by the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth. e record set in January came aer 2,948 businesses were founded in all of 2023, the most businesses started in a single year since WBJ started tracking the statistic in 2017. e rates of small businesses and startups setting up shop in Central Massachusetts have spiked post-COVID. In 2021, the number of new businesses in the region rose 14.6%, outpacing the state by 4.5 percentage points. ough growth slowed in 2022, numbers were still on an upward trajectory, reflecting a 1.5% increase from the year prior, while the state as a whole decreased 2.8%. By 2023, Central Massachusetts start- ups had superseded 2021's growth with a 15% rise in new incorporations. New businesses are required to file incorpora- tion paperwork with the Secretary of the Commonwealth in order to operate in Massachusetts, and WBJ has purchased the list of those new businesses and tracked the exact number of startups every month since January 2017. Population growth & immigrants Overall population growth was a factor in these heightened numbers, said Tom Herald, regional director of the Small Busi- ness Development Center at Clark University in Worcester. Central Massachusetts saw an 8.1% increase in population from 2010 to 2020, and in 2023, Mar- ketWatch named Worcester third in the country when it comes to popu- lation increase and home sale price- to-income ratio. In congruence with this pop- ulation growth, Timothy Murray, president and CEO of Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, credits residents re-thinking their careers coming out of COVID and the important factor of the area's immi- grant population. "Central Mass., Worcester in particu- Tom Herald, regional director of Small Business Develop- ment Center Mark Gawlak (left) and Danny Whalen founded Worces- ter-based Courthouse Brew in 2023, one of a record number of startups founded in Central Massachusetts in 2023. Timothy Murray, president and CEO of Worcester Regional Chamber of Com- merce