Bend still seeing growth in new businesses, though rate slowed in 2022, report says

KTVZ fileDowntown Bend BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Bend entrepreneurs registered 3,625 new businesses with the state of Oregon last year, a 3% increase from 2021, which is only one-third the growth rate of the prior year, a report released this weekend said. In comparison, the increase in business registrations from pandemic-stricken 2020 to 2021 was 9%, slightly higher than the annual population growth of Bend, said Jeff Eager, business attorney at Bend law firm EagerLaw PC. 'I'm not surprised the rate of growth slowed somewhat in 2022,' Eager said.