Geography · County-level analysis
DBE firms by US county: a closer look at where they really concentrate
Published May 25, 2026 · ~7 minute read
In our earlier state-level density analysis we noted that DC, Maryland, and Virginia have an unmistakable lead in DBE firm density, driven by the federal-contracting cluster around the District. At the state level you could see the cliff between those three and everywhere else, but you couldn't see the texture inside it. Was the concentration in DC itself? Throughout Maryland? Pulled by a few specific Virginia counties? County-level data answers those questions.
We joined each company in our database to its primary county via the Census 2020 ZCTA-to-County crosswalk, then merged in 2024 county population estimates from the Census Population Estimates Program. The result is a count and a per-capita rate for each of the 2,598 US counties where the DBE Source database has at least one certified firm. The map below shades each county by per-capita DBE density.
The county-level picture
Each county colored by certified DBE firms per 100,000 residents. Hover for details.
The dominant visual feature is the band of dark green running from the District of Columbia outward through Northern Virginia and into Maryland — Loudoun, Fairfax, Prince William, Stafford, Spotsylvania (south of DC) and Prince George's, Montgomery, Howard, Anne Arundel (north and east of DC). The Richmond area (Henrico, Chesterfield, Hanover) shows almost the same intensity. A secondary cluster appears in coastal Virginia (Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Hampton).
Outside the mid-Atlantic, county-level concentrations are much lower and more diffuse. The Atlanta metro (Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb) shows up clearly. So do the Chicago, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, and Miami metro counties — though when you look at the per-capita shading, even these large urban centers come out far below the DC-metro region. Los Angeles County has the third-largest absolute count of any US county at 2,701 firms, but only 27.7 DBEs per 100,000 residents— roughly one fifteenth the rate of Prince George's County, Maryland.
Top 10 counties by absolute DBE count
Six of these ten are in Maryland, Virginia, or the District itself. The other four — Los Angeles, Cook County (Chicago), Harris County (Houston), and Fulton County (Atlanta) — are large metro counties that crack the top by sheer firm count but sit far below the DMV cluster on per-capita measures.
| Rank | County | State | DBEs | Population | Per 100k |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Prince George's County | MD | 4,118 | 967K | 426.0 |
| #2 | Fairfax County | VA | 3,460 | 1.16M | 298.0 |
| #3 | Los Angeles County | CA | 2,701 | 9.76M | 27.7 |
| #4 | Montgomery County | MD | 2,493 | 1.08M | 230.3 |
| #5 | Cook County | IL | 2,460 | 5.18M | 47.5 |
| #6 | Harris County | TX | 1,959 | 5.01M | 39.1 |
| #7 | Fulton County | GA | 1,849 | 1.09M | 169.6 |
| #8 | District of Columbia | DC | 1,842 | 702K | 262.3 |
| #9 | Baltimore County | MD | 1,827 | 852K | 214.3 |
| #10 | Loudoun County | VA | 1,463 | 443K | 330.0 |
Top 10 counties by DBE firms per 100,000 residents
The per-capita ranking is even more concentrated. The Bethel Census Area outlier reflects Alaska Native Corporation contracting, where a small number of firms spread across a sparsely-populated geography produces an outsized per-capita figure. Setting that aside, nine of the next ten counties are in Virginia or Maryland, with Northern Virginia (Loudoun, Fairfax, Manassas, Falls Church) and the Maryland-Washington suburbs (Howard, Prince George's) dominant.
| Rank | County | State | DBEs | Population | Per 100k |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Bethel Census Area(Alaska Native Corporation effect) | AK | 171 | 18K | 937.7 |
| #2 | Prince George's County | MD | 4,118 | 967K | 426.0 |
| #3 | Falls Church city(Small jurisdiction) | VA | 61 | 15K | 405.7 |
| #4 | Hanover County | VA | 424 | 115K | 367.7 |
| #5 | Fredericksburg city | VA | 104 | 30K | 346.8 |
| #6 | Howard County | MD | 1,156 | 340K | 340.3 |
| #7 | Manassas city | VA | 148 | 44K | 339.3 |
| #8 | Southampton County(Small jurisdiction) | VA | 60 | 18K | 334.4 |
| #9 | Loudoun County | VA | 1,463 | 443K | 330.0 |
| #10 | Goochland County(Small jurisdiction) | VA | 93 | 28K | 329.5 |
What this tells us beyond the state-level story
Three things become clear once you move from states to counties:
- Virginia's contribution isn't just Northern Virginia.Hanover, Henrico, and Chesterfield Counties (all suburbs of Richmond) sit at 298–368 per 100k. The state's DBE program reach extends well beyond the DC commuter shed.
- Maryland's contribution is a single mega- county.Prince George's alone holds 4,118 certified firms. That's about 28% of Maryland's entire state-level DBE total (14,477) in a single county with 15% of the state's population.
- Major cities outside the DC region are far less concentrated. Cook County (Chicago), Harris County (Houston), Maricopa County (Phoenix), and Miami- Dade all rank in the top 25 by absolute count but well outside the top 50 by density. DBE certification is much more proportionally present in the DC-metro region than in any other major US metro.
Methodology
- Geocoding
- For each company, we normalized
companies.zipcodeto a 5-digit ZIP and joined to the Census 2020 ZCTA-to-County relationship file. When a ZIP straddles multiple counties, we assigned it to the county with the largest area intersection. The join succeeded for 126,795 of 128,449 firms with a zipcode value (98.7%); the remaining ~1,650 firms had non-standard ZIP codes or addresses outside the continental crosswalk. - Population
- US Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) vintage 2024, county-level totals (co-est2024-alldata.csv). 3,144 county records;
POPESTIMATE2024column. - Map
- County boundaries from us-atlas counties-10m, Douglas-Peucker simplified at ~5km tolerance and projected via an Albers USA-equivalent (continental conic + Alaska/Hawaii insets). Color scale is square-root capped at 400 firms per 100k to keep the Bethel Census Area outlier from washing out the rest of the country.
- Reproducibility
- The full analysis script will be added to scripts/analysis alongside the state-level pipeline.
Frequently asked questions
Which US county has the most certified DBE firms?
Prince George's County, Maryland — 4,118 certified DBE firms in the DBE Source database. That's more than Los Angeles County (2,701), Cook County in Illinois (2,460), or any other US county. Six of the top ten counties by absolute DBE count are in Maryland, Virginia, or the District of Columbia; the other four are LA County, Cook County, Harris County (Houston), and Fulton County (Atlanta).
Which county has the highest DBE density per capita?
The Bethel Census Area in Alaska tops the list at 937 certified DBE firms per 100,000 residents. This reflects the Alaska Native Corporation contracting program, where a relatively small number of large federal contracts flow to Alaska Native firms based in a sparsely-populated area. Excluding that outlier, the leader is Prince George's County, Maryland at 426 per 100k.
Why does the DC region have so many DBE firms?
The District is a federal enclave with a contracting economy unmatched anywhere else in the country. Northern Virginia and the Baltimore-Washington corridor have hosted federal contractors for decades, and many of those contracts carry DBE participation requirements. The result is a dense regional ecosystem of certified DBE firms that draws from a tri-jurisdictional area served by overlapping agencies — federal, DC, Maryland, Virginia, and the multi-state WMATA program.
How does Los Angeles County compare to Prince George's County?
Los Angeles County has the 3rd-largest absolute DBE count of any US county (2,701 certified firms) but the lowest per-capita rate in the top 10: 27.7 firms per 100,000 residents. Prince George's County, Maryland has 4,118 firms in a population of 967,000 — 426 per 100,000, roughly 15 times the LA County rate.
How were companies geocoded to counties?
Each company's ZIP code was matched to its primary county using the Census 2020 ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA) to County relationship file. When a ZIP straddles multiple counties, we assigned it to the county with the largest area intersection. 126,795 of 132,698 firms (95.6%) were successfully geocoded.
Caveats
ZIP-based county assignment is approximate. About 8% of ZIPs cross county lines, and even though we use the largest- area intersection as the primary county, some firms may be counted in the wrong county. For high-density urban counties this is usually not material; for sparsely- populated counties on county borders it can be.
The per-capita rates are sensitive to population. Very small counties with a handful of DBE firms can show very high rates (Bethel AK, Cumberland VA, Falls Church VA) without necessarily representing a large absolute economic footprint. The Bethel outlier in particular reflects Alaska Native Corporation contracting and isn't comparable to the typical DBE landscape elsewhere.
The DBE Source database captures certified firms across multiple programs (DBE, MBE, WBE, SBE, ACDBE, and others) from state DOT directories, the SBA, and major reciprocal programs. It is not an enumeration of all disadvantaged-owned businesses; it's an enumeration of actively-certified ones. Sparse counties may reflect lower program participation, not necessarily fewer eligible firms.
Data snapshot: May 25, 2026. Companion analyses: DBE density by state, regional cluster analysis, and the most welcoming state DOTs.