Small Business is Best in Small Cities

Most people live in small cities; life is great there.  And small cities are fantastic places to start a business.  BusinessWeek has compiled a list of the Best Small Cities for Startups (one in each state) and the criteria of “affordability, availability of a talented labor pool, existence of a thriving business community, and quality of life.”  They looked at populations between 20,000 and 200,000 and they interviewed entrepreneurs in each city to get their perspective. (To find a state, scroll down the page to the state shapes and click on the ones you want to see.)

Start-up Stats.  The information about each city includes “startups per 1,000 people” and “small business per 1,000 people,” which are interesting statistics if you know what to compare them with.  Here are some selected cities for comparison purposes:

Iowa. In Iowa, where I live, the selected small city was Ames, which is close to Des Moines (Iowa’s capital) and the home of Iowa State University. The biz stats show:   Startups per 1,000 people: 2.20
Small business per 1,000 people: 28.

California. The selected city for California is Irvine, near San Diego.  Startups per 1,000 people: 3.43
Small business per 1,000 people: 59.  Irvine has a great climate, which means it is easy to find people who want to work for you.

North Carolina. Cary, North Carolina is a beautiful place, close to both the ocean and the mountains.  It is in the middle of the Research Triangle, which means a lot of professional people.  The business owner who is quoted in the article talks about Cary’s vibrant downtown.  Stats: Startups per 1,000 people: 3.39
Small business per 1,000 people: 36.

Delaware. Newark, Delaware is close to Philadelphia and is the home of the University of Delaware.  It’s interesting that many of these cities have a connection to a large research university.  Delaware is known as the place to start a corporation because of its business-friendliness.  Stats: Startups per 1,000 people: 3.39  Small business per 1,000 people: 36.

Utah. Provo, Utah wants to help new businesses get started, according to the business owner interviewed, and they will even give money for start-ups.  Stats: Startups per 1,000 people: 2.77 Small business per 1,000 people: 25.

I enjoyed looking through the list of states, learning about what makes a business-friendly city.  If you are looking for a place to locate your business, it’s worth a look.

Image: Kriss Szkurlatowski @sxc.hu