Have you ever wondered if your city is one that’s friendly to small businesses, that attracts small businesses and has a thriving small business scene?
Well, here is a list of the 25 Best Small Business Cities as determined by Biz2Credit’s third annual analysis of The Best Small Business Cities in America:
1. Riverside-San Bernardino, California
2. Chicago, Illinois
3. New York Metro Area
4. Charlotte, North Carolina
5. Las Vegas, Nevada
6. San Francisco-Oakland, California
7. Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Florida
8. Los Angeles, California
9. Houston, Texas
10. Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas
11. Washington, DC Metro
12. Atlanta, Georgia
13. San Antonio, Texas
14. San Diego, California
15. Detroit, Michigan
16. Phoenix, Arizona
17. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
18. San Jose, California
19. Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida
20. Denver, Colorado
21. Virginia Beach-Norfolk, Virginia
22. Orlando, Florida
23. Columbus, Ohio
24. Seattle, Washington
25. Sacramento, California
Are you surprised by any of the names on this list? Do you call any of them home or do you live close by?
A Closer Look at the Data
If you own a younger business, you’ll fit right in with other small companies in cities like Orlando or Philadephia, which topped the list of 10 cities ranked for the youngest businesses (in terms of months of operation).
If your business is aiming to be among the highest revenue generators, you’ll be in good company in cities like San Riverside-Bernadino or New York which topped the list for businesses with the highest annual revenue.
Meanwhile Chicago and New York topped the list for cities containing businesses with the highest credit score.
There were some surprises as well. One was the inclusion of Detroit, Michigan, one of the few old northern industrial cities on the list.
“Detroit has seen a bounce back in the auto industry, and support industries such as technology and health care have emerged in the region,” explained Rohit Arora, CEO of Biz2Credit and an expert in small business finance, responding to an email interview with Small Business Trends.
“Lower gas prices have contributed to reducing manufacturing and distribution costs, which has in turn helped domestic companies regain a competitive advantage in the industry with manufacturing coming back from China and Korea,” Rohit added.
Another surprise was Boston’s conspicuous absence.
“Boston largely benefited from the tech boom in early 2000s, but it seems to be losing its competitiveness to New York, which has established itself as the primary small business and tech hub in the Northeast,” Arora speculated. “There has also been a significant increase in v-commerce investments in NYC, which has now outstripped Boston after Silicon Valley.”
To compile the list, Biz2Credit examined more than 12,000 small businesses identified as companies with less than 250 employees and revenues under $10 million a year.
Finally, communities were ranked by average credit score, average annual revenue, and a BizAnalyzer score to determine the final results.
Want to learn more about the Best Small Business Cities list? Join us for a live webinar with Arora and other experts on Wednesday, May 13, 2015 at 3 p.m. New York time.
Webinar Details
Who: Small Business Trends CEO Anita Campbell (@SmallBizTrends), Senior Editor of CNBC Digital Lori Ioannou (@LoriIoannou1), CEO of Biz2Credit Rohit Arora (@RohitBiz2Credit) and President of Over The Moon PR John Mooney.
What: “Best Small Business Cities of 2015” Webinar
When: Wednesday, May 13, 2015 from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. (EDT)
Map: Small Business Trends
Unfortunately no, my city isn’t on the list, but probably because it’s just not very big. The list seems to favor large cities.
Aira Bongco
I think it is more than just the small businesses in the area. You also need to consider the business by niche. Some areas have less competition in some niches than the others.