New business filings in Minnesota last year were up 17.6 percent from 2011 and represented the second-highest annual total in the state’s history, according to figures recently released by the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State.
 
There were 60,827 filings within the state in 2012, up from 51,723 in 2011 and 55,223 in 2010. The record was set in 2009, when the state reported 63,338 new filings. However, the 2009 spike can be attributed in part to a change in filing practices that the Minnesota Department of Commerce implemented.
 
“New business filings reflect Minnesota’s great business climate,” Secretary of State Mark Ritchie said in a prepared statement. “As our economy continues to improve in 2013, new business filings will remain strong.”
 
A total of 30,216 limited liability companies (LLCs)—the most common legal structure for new businesses in Minnesota—were formed last year, up 21.2 percent from 2011. Meanwhile, 6,390 corporations were formed, representing a 7.1 percent increase over the prior year, and there were 2,226 nonprofit filings, up 16.9 percent.
 
News of the substantial increase in the state’s new business filings last year comes as no surprise. As of early August, filings were up 16 percent compared to the same time in 2011. And for the first three quarters of last year, filings were up 17.7 percent compared to the same period the previous year. Ritchie said in early October that the state was on pace to set a new all-time record in 2012 and called the filing increase “another sign of the robust recovery underway in Minnesota.”