These Are the 20 Best Cities to Start a Business
You can start a business just about anywhere, but some locations might lend themselves better to your company’s long-term prospects. Personal finance website WalletHub looked at 100 cities in the U.S. and compared them based on three different categories: business environment, access to resources and business costs.
The top 20 top cities are:
- Orlando, FL
- Oklahoma City, OK
- Miami, FL
- Austin, TX
- Tampa, FL
- Charlotte, NC
- Durham, NC
- Raleigh, NC
- Atlanta, GA
- Denver, CO
- Fort Worth, TX
- Jacksonville, FL
- Houston, TX
- St. Petersburg, FL
- Dallas, TX
- San Antonio, TX
- Irving, TX
- Laredo, TX
- Oakland, CA
- Irvine, CA
The survey found that number three on the list, Miami, Florida, is home to the most startups per 100,000 residents at 234.72, which is 3.2 times more than in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, which is the city with the fewest at 74.40 per 100,000 residents.
If cost of living is a top concern, you might consider number 18 on the list, Laredo, Texas, which has the lowest cost-of-living index according to the study. It’s probably not a surprise that tech hub San Francisco has the highest cost-of-living index.
San Francisco has the highest annual rent for office space at $80.22 per square foot, while Toledo, Ohio, has the lowest annual average rent at $11.93 per square foot.
Lincoln, Nebraska, has the most accessible financing while San Bernardino, California, has the least. Detroit, Michigan, has the lowest labor costs with a median annual income of $27,838, which is 4.4 times lower than in Fremont, California, which has the highest labor costs with a median annual income of $122,191.
What were your biggest concerns when starting your business?
This post originally appeared on Entrepreneur.com.
Jon Flatt is the CEO of KERV Interactive, which produces award-winning interactive video technology that is revolutionizing visual storytelling for brands and advertisers. Before KERV, he was CEO and founder of Red McCombs Media, which was acquired by LIN Media.
What Business Stars Say About Jon Flatt:
“I have witnessed firsthand Jon`s unique ability to lead and build a company from the ground up. He has a proven track record to create technology, operations and company vision based on identifying early adopter trends in the market place”, VP , Circuit of the Americas
“Jon Flatt is a true entrepreneur and pioneer in the fast growing world of online advertising. His philosophies on innovation and business operations in the new economy have proven to be very successful.”, Billionaire and former owner of , The Minnesota Vikings
“Jon has an uncanny ability to quickly understand very complex issues and come up with effective scaleable solutions. His abilities as a problem solver are among the best I have ever experienced”, CEO , Verdant Frontiers
“Jon Flatt is a visionary who has the unique ability to identify early adopter trends in online advertising and more importantly, develop and execute strategies to capitalize upon those trends.”, Partner , McCombs Enterprises
“Jon Flatt builds and leads profitable, highly successful, and rapid growth companies. He is able to focus on mentoring excellent leadership teams, attracting top talent, and gaining employee loyalty during an intense high growth revenue stage. Having worked as CFO for Jon's previous company, Lin Digital, I was able to see first hand his razor sharp focus on building a highly profitable business with an end goal to produce company, employee and shareholder returns.”, CFO , Nfluient
“With almost two decades of experience in digital advertising sales, business operations, and as a publisher, Jon brings a level of combined expertise not seen often in the digital space. Leveraging owned and paid assets for revenue and sales is tough. Building a business from that success is even more difficult. Few people exist that can help you accomplish those types of goals. Jon is one of them. ”, Director, Business Development , Varick Media Management
“Jon Flatt is a true visionary in the digital space. He's a born entrepreneur, leader, and always has his finger on the pulse of "whats next".”, Regional Account Executive , LIN Digital
“If you are looking to improve your company culture, attract the best talent and position your company for maximum growth, you need to be talking to Jon. Early on in the digital World, Jon realized that tech is an important component in the Red McCombs Media value proposition and while service is key, a tech platform would position the company far beyond competitors. He conceptualized and created RedZone, a platform that streamlines internal workflow that competitors are still trying to replicate in 2016 and gives full, real-time data access to agency clients and brands beyond the limitations of a DSP or an ad server. This is just one of many things that made Red McCombs Media attractive to bidders and led to the purchase of Red McCombs Media by LIN Media. With the powerful combination of tech and service touted by LIN Media, they were purchased by Media General, who was then purchased by NexStar. All of these companies achieved great success as a result of Jon’s early work…work which has withstood the test of time.”, regional account lead , Centro