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Diario PYME

Plana Alta and Baix Maestrat Lead Business Creation in Castellón

These regions account for nearly 94% of new businesses registered in the province during the first quarter of 2026.

Generic image of business cards, symbolizing new business creation.
IA

Generic image of business cards, symbolizing new business creation.

The province of Castellón has started 2026 with a positive balance in business creation, with significant growth in the Baix Maestrat and Plana Alta regions, which concentrate the majority of new businesses.

According to the report by the Valencian Institute of Statistics, in the first quarter of 2026, the province of Castellón registered 19,533 companies enrolled in the Social Security system. This represents an increase of 375 compared to the previous quarter, a 2.0% rise, and 426 year-on-year, a 2.2% increase.
Business dynamism has been mainly concentrated in Plana Alta and Baix Maestrat. Plana Alta added 155 new businesses quarterly, up 1.7%, and 220 year-on-year, up 2.5%. Meanwhile, Baix Maestrat recorded the largest quarterly increase with 197 new companies, up 6.5%, and 143 more than a year ago, up 4.6%.
These two regions jointly account for 352 of the 375 new businesses created compared to the previous quarter, representing nearly 94% of the total provincial increase. In other words, nine out of ten new businesses created this quarter are located in these regions. Plana Baixa showed more moderate growth, while other regions like Els Ports or Alt Maestrat experienced more contained developments or slight decreases.
At the regional level, the Valencian Community reached 156,565 companies registered with Social Security in the first quarter of 2026, an increase of 1,684, or 1.1%, compared to the previous quarter, and a year-on-year increase of 2,933, or 1.9%.
Regarding the number of workers registered with Social Security in the province of Castellón, it stood at 201,295 in the first quarter of 2026. Although there was a slight quarterly decrease of 1,189 employees, or 0.6%, a solid year-on-year growth of 3.5% was maintained, with 6,855 more workers. Baix Maestrat leads the absolute increase with 2,152 more workers, up 12.0%, and a year-on-year advance of 7.0%.
The number of self-employed individuals in the province of Castellón reached 23,934 in the first quarter of 2026, with a quarterly increase of 243 affiliates, up 1.0%. However, year-on-year growth has been practically stagnant, with only 56 more affiliates, up 0.2%. Plana Alta, Plana Baixa, and Baix Maestrat concentrate the largest quarterly advances in this sector.

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