August 6, 2026 — Northeast Florida (First Coast) new business activity

Northeast Florida's seven counties recorded 853 new business filings the week of July 16 to 22, down 5.8% from the week before and down 10.1% from the same week last year.

No county in the region added filings. Duval slipped to 554 and St. Johns to 103. Nassau held exactly even at 39. Putnam fell to 15 and Baker to 5, the sharpest drops in the region.

Duval still carries most of the activity. Jacksonville by itself recorded 521 filings. Duval gave up 2.5% while the region gave up 5.8%, so the biggest county held steadier than the small ones.

The mix says more than the total does. Property holding companies led at 115, real estate businesses rose to 53, and administrative and support services climbed to 76. Money kept going into owning property and servicing it.

Most other sectors gave ground. Construction and trades fell to 66, retail to 48, and health care to 41. Manufacturing went the other way and rose from 6 to 13.

Una desaceleración constante en las últimas 13 semanas.

La línea gruesa es el promedio de 13 semanas. Léela para ver la tendencia más larga. La línea delgada es el conteo de cada semana, que cambia de una semana a otra.

• 2025-26
• 2024-25
• 2023-24
• 2022-23
• 2021-22

La formación de negocios nuevos suele ser más alta alrededor de Mar y más baja alrededor de Nov, y se mantiene cerca de 4,000 al mes a lo largo de los años.

Cada línea es un año, que termina en el mes actual a la derecha, así puedes leer el año pasado de izquierda a derecha. El Día de Año Nuevo queda fuera porque la oficina estatal está cerrada, así casi ningún negocio se registra ese día.

Real Estate grew the most this week, 10 more (up 23.3%). Construction & Trades dropped the most, 19 fewer (down 22.4%). 4 other sectors shown here also grew.

Duval led the region this week with 554 new filings.

• Jacksonville approved issuing multifamily housing revenue bonds in an amount not to exceed $28,850,000 for Campbell Cove, an apartment project of roughly 240 units at 11050 Beach Blvd. Every unit is set aside for households at or below 60% of area median income, and the city had already approved a $5,000,000 development loan for the project.

  A 240 unit build runs for years across every trade, and it keeps paying after move in through turnover, repairs and grounds work.

  A quiénes les sirve

  • site work contractors
  • concrete and masonry contractors
  • framers
  • roofers
  • electricians
  • plumbers
  • landscapers
  • property management companies

  City of Jacksonville Neighborhoods, Community Services, Public Health and Safety Committee agenda, 2026-05-18

• Jacksonville authorized a development loan of $3,800,000, on a 20 year term, to support building roughly 108 affordable housing units across scattered sites in the city.

  Scattered sites split the work across neighborhoods, so smaller crews can win a piece instead of one large builder taking the whole job.

  A quiénes les sirve

  • small general contractors
  • carpenters
  • drywall installers
  • painters
  • flooring installers
  • surveyors

  City of Jacksonville Finance Committee agenda, 2026-06-02

• A 1.91 acre parcel at 0 Granite Pl, between New Berlin Rd and I-295, is before Jacksonville's City Council for a land use change and rezoning to light industrial, filed by Bird Dog Land Holdings, LLC.

  Light industrial land beside I-295 is where small warehouses and service shops end up. A rezoning is the step that comes before any of it gets built.

  A quiénes les sirve

  • industrial builders
  • paving contractors
  • fence installers
  • freight haulers
  • warehouse equipment suppliers

  City of Jacksonville City Council agenda, 2026-06-23

• JAXPORT passed the halfway mark building Berth 21, a third dedicated vehicle berth at its Blount Island Marine Terminal. It is part of a $60 million investment at Blount Island, with the Florida Department of Transportation funding 75% of project costs and JAXPORT providing a 25% match. Completion is slated for early 2027.

  A third vehicle berth means more ships worked and more cars moved through Jacksonville, and that lands directly on the trucking and yard operations ringing the port.

  A quiénes les sirve

  • marine contractors
  • heavy equipment operators
  • truck carriers
  • auto processors
  • port logistics firms
  • commercial insurers

  JAXPORT, 2026-06-01

• Helicopter crews began installing new wiring across the St. Johns River at Fulton Cut. The work raises electric transmission lines from their current height of 185 feet to 225 feet, providing 205 feet of clearance so larger container ships can reach the Blount Island terminal. It continues over the next several months.

  Higher lines let bigger ships up the river, and bigger ships mean more containers to haul, store and clear once they are on the ground.

  A quiénes les sirve

  • utility line contractors
  • freight brokers
  • container truckers
  • warehouse operators
  • customs brokers

  JAXPORT, 2026-07-27

• Fernandina Beach's Technical Review Committee took up a site plan review for a commercial flex space at 1750 S. 14th Street in Nassau County.

  Flex space is what a small trade or light maker rents after outgrowing a garage, so it tends to fill with local businesses rather than outside tenants.

  A quiénes les sirve

  • commercial builders
  • overhead door installers
  • HVAC contractors
  • electricians
  • commercial real estate agents

  City of Fernandina Beach Technical Review Committee agenda, 2026-06-25

• Fernandina Beach's Technical Review Committee worked through two separate building plans in one sitting, one at the municipal airport and one in town.

  2 oportunidades en esta actualización

  • A formal site plan came in for building an aircraft hangar at the Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport at 700 Airport Rd. Hangar work is steel, concrete and electrical from the ground up. Once it stands, it tends to pull aircraft maintenance and fueling business in behind it.
  • A site plan for 9 townhome units and supporting infrastructure was reviewed at 101 Alachua Street. Nine units is a small job next to a county subdivision. Small jobs are also the ones local crews actually win, rather than watching them go to a regional builder.

  Two building plans in one meeting in a town this size is a steady sign of work for Nassau County contractors.

  A quiénes les sirve

  • steel erectors
  • concrete contractors
  • electricians
  • plumbers
  • framers
  • roofers
  • aircraft maintenance shops

  City of Fernandina Beach Technical Review Committee agenda, 2026-06-11

• St. Johns County and the Florida Department of Transportation will replace unsignalized left turns from Stratton Boulevard and Industry Center Road onto State Road 16 with signalized U-turns. The work adds turn lanes, new traffic signals, updated pavement markings and two new pedestrian crosswalks. The new pattern is expected to start in mid to late September.

  Signal and lane work is paving, striping and electrical work in the near term, and easier truck access to the Industry Center Road businesses once it is done.

  A quiénes les sirve

  • paving contractors
  • striping crews
  • traffic signal electricians
  • concrete flatwork crews
  • traffic control services

  St. Johns County, 2026-08-06

• St. Johns County Public Works finished roadway improvements on Courtney Vista Drive, opening a more direct route between County Road 2209 and Silverleaf Parkway. Construction was completed in approximately nine months, ahead of an originally projected 12 month timeline. The road serves Magnolia Oaks Academy, a new school in the Silverleaf community expected to welcome approximately 1,300 students.

  A finished road plus roughly 1,300 students arriving is the point where nearby retail and service businesses start seeing daily traffic they did not have before.

  A quiénes les sirve

  • convenience stores
  • quick service restaurants
  • child care providers
  • tutoring services
  • auto repair shops

  St. Johns County, 2026-08-05

The count is down across the board, and the mix shows where the work still sits. Property holding and real estate businesses grew while construction and trades fell, so the near term customer is the property owner, not the builder. Title work, insurance, bookkeeping, cleaning, lawn care and repair trades all have a real pool of new owners to reach this week. The building work has not gone away, it just has not shown up as new companies yet. The approvals cited here, from a 240 unit apartment project to a third vehicle berth at the port, turn into bids over the next year. Trades that watch the Jacksonville housing agenda and the port schedule now will be quoting on that work before it is advertised.

We count new business filings recorded with the state for the seven counties of Northeast Florida: Baker, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns. We wait about two weeks after a week ends for the state to finish recording filings, so these counts are complete. We compare each week against the week before and against the same week last year. The local items come from government agendas, public notices and official announcements, and each one is linked so you can read the record yourself.

Preguntas frecuentes

Why were filings down this week?

The drop is spread across the whole region rather than caused by one county or one industry. Every county was flat or down, and standard LLC filings fell by 61 on their own. The 13 week average has been sliding since late April, so this week fits a slower run rather than a sudden change.

Which parts of Northeast Florida are still growing?

Sector by sector rather than place by place. Real estate businesses rose to 53, administrative and support services to 76, manufacturing from 6 to 13, and wholesale and distribution from 10 to 15. Green Cove Springs and Middleburg both grew even though Clay County overall did not.

What kind of business is forming most often here?

Property holding companies, at 115 filings, or 13.5% of the week. Professional services came next at 106. Together with administrative and support services, that points at owners setting up companies to hold and manage property rather than to open a storefront.

Are these counts final?

Yes. We wait about two weeks after the week ends so the state can finish recording every filing before we publish, so the numbers here are complete rather than an early estimate.

How do I use this if I sell to new businesses?

Start with the sectors that grew. New real estate and property holding companies need title work, insurance, inspections, bookkeeping, lawn care, cleaning and repair trades. Then look at the approved projects listed here, because the trades work they create gets bid over the next year.