WebJunction - County Business Patterns - Government Information in the 21st Century

Go to the CBP site at < http://www.census.gov/epcd/cbp/view/cbpview.html>. Although somewhat buried in American Fact Finder, you can click on Subjects A to Z at the Census home page, then scroll down to County Business Patterns. The CBP home page provides explanations of coverage, methodology, and viewing options.
Choose the link reading; View in Hypertext Tables (html) - U.S., States, Metro Areas, Counties, and ZIPs”
Choose the desired geography. Remember that no maps appear in the CBP. Have a printed copy handy. “County” appears as a second choice after choosing “state” in the first “go” box.
A verification screen appears for the geography. Make a choice and click “Submit”.
The latest year’s data appears. So does a verification for year of choice. Change the year, or continue to scroll down.
The first two tables contain 2-digit NAICS codes and the most basic description of the economic activity.
Each row of data allows two choices for detailed data:
(a) A “comparison” for all counties at the 2-digit level with the same data. Click the Compare button.
(b) A table for one county for highly detailed NAICS codes (6-digits) with the same data. Click the Detail button.
The statistical tables look the same for all geographical areas available, requiring close scrutiny by the user to avoid major data problems.
At the bottom of the table appear three further choices:
(a) Save the table as a.”.txt” file for manipulation by word-processing software
(b) Save the table as a “.csv” file for manipulation by spreadsheet software.
(c) Repeat the search using a different geographical area.