Charlotte Ranked As 2021’s 6th Best Large City to Start a Business

By
Scott Jensen
-
1671

With two in three small business owners saying 2020 was their hardest year ever, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2021’s Best Large Cities to Start a Business.

In order to help aspiring entrepreneurs maximize their chances for long-term prosperity, the site compared 100 U.S. cities across 21 key indicators of startup viability. The data set ranges from the five-year business-survival rate to COVID-19 cases to office-space affordability.

Starting a Business in Charlotte (1=Best; 50=Avg.):

  • 55th – Average Daily COVID-19 Cases in the Past Week per Capita
  • 41st – Cost of Living
  • 15th – Length of Average Workweek (in Hours)
  • 22nd – Share of College-Educated Population
  • 3rd – Industry Variety

Charlotte ranked #6 overall, just ahead of Raleigh at #7:

Best Places to Start a Business

Overall Rank  City Total Score  Business Environment  Access to Resources  Business Costs 
1 Laredo, TX 64.97 13 10 43
2 Durham, NC 63.95 31 14 18
3 Lubbock, TX 63.79 25 5 55
4 Orlando, FL 63.58 24 27 16
5 Boise, ID 63.37 3 66 45
6 Charlotte, NC 62.63 17 43 29
7 Raleigh, NC 62.59 38 11 32
8 Austin, TX 62.45 2 9 83
9 Fort Worth, TX 62.10 4 19 71
10 Tampa, FL 61.78 44 23 19
11 Atlanta, GA 61.74 32 26 30
12 St. Petersburg, FL 61.19 39 53 17
13 Reno, NV 60.80 16 44 54
14 Dallas, TX 60.78 5 42 70
15 Winston-Salem, NC 60.65 41 80 1
16 Colorado Springs, CO 60.64 51 28 24
17 Jacksonville, FL 60.63 26 79 9
18 Kansas City, MO 60.34 46 63 10
19 Nashville, TN 60.28 23 39 51
20 Irvine, CA 59.45 6 1 97
21 Denver, CO 59.15 43 17 58
22 Irving, TX 59.03 9 41 77
23 Arlington, TX 58.94 20 46 68
24 Miami, FL 58.74 52 34 31
25 Phoenix, AZ 58.43 29 68 44
26 Long Beach, CA 58.33 14 32 82
27 Fresno, CA 58.29 47 56 35
28 New Orleans, LA 58.15 54 22 41
29 Honolulu, HI 58.09 60 2 76
30 Oakland, CA 58.02 8 7 92
31 Madison, WI 57.97 67 4 57
32 Stockton, CA 57.88 57 21 48
33 Scottsdale, AZ 57.84 7 60 80
34 Indianapolis, IN 57.83 56 73 8
35 Los Angeles, CA 57.75 15 29 85
36 Aurora, CO 57.57 33 84 36
37 Lincoln, NE 57.52 66 13 38
38 Houston, TX 56.75 42 54 62
39 San Diego, CA 56.66 12 31 89
40 Wichita, KS 56.31 73 25 27
41 Mesa, AZ 56.22 35 93 37
42 San Francisco, CA 56.10 1 6 100
43 Las Vegas, NV 56.03 55 59 42
44 Greensboro, NC 55.97 78 64 4
45 San Antonio, TX 55.96 48 52 65
46 Fort Wayne, IN 55.86 76 67 5
47 Omaha, NE 55.84 71 16 46
48 Birmingham, AL 55.82 72 65 14
49 Sacramento, CA 55.79 36 71 66
50 Boston, MA 55.71 63 3 86
51 Albuquerque, NM 55.71 64 78 11
52 San Bernardino, CA 55.51 53 85 28
53 Seattle, WA 55.47 10 8 96
54 Glendale, AZ 55.42 37 98 39
55 Louisville, KY 55.30 77 33 25
56 Tucson, AZ 55.10 65 72 22
57 Memphis, TN 54.76 74 70 15
58 Garland, TX 54.49 18 97 75
59 Henderson, NV 54.27 45 83 61
60 St. Louis, MO 54.12 87 40 2
61 Plano, TX 54.11 11 55 93
62 North Las Vegas, NV 54.04 50 92 47
63 Riverside, CA 53.85 49 69 73
64 Chandler, AZ 53.64 30 94 72
65 Tulsa, OK 53.61 89 37 3
66 Gilbert, AZ 53.46 28 86 79
67 Columbus, OH 53.37 79 35 50
68 Santa Ana, CA 53.22 21 95 81
69 Baton Rouge, LA 53.18 81 48 34
70 Milwaukee, WI 52.92 83 61 23
71 Chula Vista, CA 52.78 22 77 88
72 Norfolk, VA 52.77 69 91 21
73 Portland, OR 52.72 40 49 91
74 Oklahoma City, OK 52.72 88 36 12
75 Bakersfield, CA 52.47 59 90 59
76 Anaheim, CA 52.20 27 88 84
77 Hialeah, FL 52.17 70 99 13
78 Virginia Beach, VA 52.09 62 89 52
79 El Paso, TX 52.05 82 58 49
80 San Jose, CA 52.01 34 12 98
81 Lexington-Fayette, KY 51.88 84 38 40
82 Cincinnati, OH 51.49 85 57 33
83 Corpus Christi, TX 50.82 68 76 60
84 Fremont, CA 50.08 19 50 99
85 Chicago, IL 50.08 75 47 78
86 Chesapeake, VA 49.95 61 100 53
87 St. Paul, MN 48.90 86 51 64
88 Minneapolis, MN 48.80 91 15 69
89 Toledo, OH 47.65 93 82 20
90 Buffalo, NY 47.41 99 74 6
91 Anchorage, AK 46.94 58 96 87
92 Newark, NJ 46.74 94 24 74
93 Philadelphia, PA 45.83 92 61 67
94 Detroit, MI 45.39 100 75 7
95 Cleveland, OH 45.27 98 87 26
96 Pittsburgh, PA 45.22 97 45 63
97 Washington, DC 45.16 80 30 95
98 New York, NY 44.66 90 20 90
99 Baltimore, MD 44.62 96 81 56
100 Jersey City, NJ 42.04 95 18 94

Note: With the exception of “Total Score,” all of the columns in the table above depict the relative rank of that city, where a rank of 1 represents the best conditions for that metric category.

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