Philly Leader

There were 373 business licenses issued in Chester County in January 2022 in Pennsylvania, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State.

This is a 38.1 percent increase over the previous month when there were 270 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.

County	Issued in January 2022	Issued in December 2021	Percentage change (%)
Adams	61	42	45.2%
Allegheny	886	629	40.9%
Armstrong	24	17	41.2%
Beaver	45	41	9.8%
Bedford	11	5	120%
Berks	161	107	50.5%
Blair	48	37	29.7%
Bradford	15	16	-6.3%
Bucks	395	327	20.8%
Butler	51	48	6.3%
Cambria	45	21	114.3%
Cameron	6	0	-
Carbon	36	22	63.6%
Centre	79	51	54.9%
Chester	373	270	38.1%
Clarion	14	5	180%
Clearfield	17	6	183.3%
Clinton	20	9	122.2%
Columbia	36	22	63.6%
Crawford	33	29	13.8%
Cumberland	211	153	37.9%
Dauphin	267	201	32.8%
Delaware	324	248	30.6%
Elk	11	7	57.1%
Erie	171	86	98.8%
Fayette	48	25	92%
Forest	2	0	-
Franklin	78	48	62.5%
Fulton	10	2	400%
Greene	11	14	-21.4%
Huntingdon	14	11	27.3%
Indiana	19	11	72.7%
Jefferson	31	13	138.5%
Juniata	15	10	50%
Lackawanna	120	94	27.7%
Lancaster	245	157	56.1%
Lawrence	36	32	12.5%
Lebanon	22	20	10%
Lehigh	281	208	35.1%
Luzerne	120	86	39.5%
Lycoming	49	31	58.1%
Mckean	5	3	66.7%
Mercer	36	31	16.1%
Mifflin	22	7	214.3%
Monroe	99	84	17.9%
Montgomery	575	389	47.8%
Montour	8	4	100%
Northampton	122	78	56.4%
Northumberland	33	20	65%
Perry	17	17	0%
Philadelphia	1,836	1,522	20.6%
Pike	17	4	325%
Potter	9	3	200%
Schuylkill	65	37	75.7%
Snyder	21	16	31.3%
Somerset	21	15	40%
Sullivan	4	5	-20%
Susquehanna	8	5	60%
Tioga	7	6	16.7%
Union	24	14	71.4%
Venango	14	8	75%
Warren	4	5	-20%
Washington	83	62	33.9%
Wayne	21	24	-12.5%
Westmoreland	162	113	43.4%
Wyoming	4	2	100%
York	258	162	59.3%