So many of the takes on how AI will impact the economy are based on conjecture rather than data. At Stripe Economics, we want to help change that. Stripe sits on one of the most interesting real-time datasets to understand how AI is changing the economy, and we're excited to pair our data with data on AI usage via @OpenRouter (which is subject to close). Stripe Economics is our way of sharing insights from that data with the world. In our latest post, we lay out our empirical agenda for AI and how we think Stripe data can contribute to answering important questions. Our goal is to give more visibility into what we’re thinking about and invite others with similar interests to collaborate. We welcome proposals and ideas for collaboration at stripeeconomics@stripe.com!

AI is driving a surge in business formation across the country, with smaller metro areas benefiting disproportionately. In 2026, 40% of Stripe sign-ups were in metro areas with fewer than one million people, up 10% from four years ago. Within metro areas, new business formation is shifting towards the outer suburbs and away from the city center. We saw a similar shift during the pandemic as work from home policies came into place and we’re seeing a reacceleration in the last few years, coinciding with the advent of AI. It seems AI may be unlocking entrepreneurial potential among people who were previously constrained by their location. AI work itself is the exception to this story. The labs and AI product companies cluster tightly in San Francisco and other major metro areas. Agglomeration continues to matter at the technological frontier where knowledge is more tacit and the spillovers that come from proximity are more valuable. Read the full piece at Stripe Economics: