Many South Florida Cities Among Best Small Cities To Start A Business

With National Small Business Week just two weeks away, the personal finance website WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis of 2016’s Best Small Cities to Start a Business.

To identify the most business-friendly small markets in which to launch a new venture, WalletHub’s analysts compared 1,268 small-sized cities across 15 key metrics. Our data set ranges from “average growth in number of small businesses” and “prevalence of investors” to “office-space affordability” and “corporate taxes.”

Comparing the Best & Worst

• Miami Beach, Fla., has the highest number of startups per 100,000 residents, 246, which is seven times higher than in Salisbury, Md., the city with the lowest, 35. [Note: Davie, Plantation, Sunrise and Boca Raton all tied for highest number of startups per capita]
• Santa Paula, Calif., has the highest industry variety, which is four times higher than in Suisun City, Calif., the city with the lowest.
• Bethesda, Md., has the highest percentage of the population with at least a bachelor’s degree, 82.2 percent, which is 22 times higher than in Soledad, Calif., and Wasco, Calif., the cities with the lowest, 3.7 percent.
• Mountain View, Calif., has the least affordable office spaces, with a price of $65.87 per sq. ft. per year, which is eight times higher than in Dothan, Ala., and Kentwood, Mich., the cities with the lowest price, $8.76 per sq. ft. per year.
• Carbondale, Ill., has the lowest labor costs, $17,677, which is 11 times lower than in McLean, Va., the city with the highest, $188,639.
• Weslaco, Texas, has the lowest cost-of-living index, which is six times lower than in Beverly Hills, Calif., the city with the highest.
• East Lansing, Mich., has the shortest average work week, 28 hours, which is two times shorter than in Fort Hood, Texas, the city with the longest, 50 hours.