With National Small Business Week approaching and COVID-19 having caused around 100,000 permanent business closures in 2020, the personal-finance website WalletHub has released its report on 2021’s Best Small Cities to Start a Business, as well as accompanying videos, along with its 2021 Small Business Owner Survey.
To determine the most business-friendly small markets in the U.S., WalletHub compared more than 1,300 cities with fewer than 100,000 residents across 20 key metrics. The data set ranges from small-business growth rates and accessibility of financing to investor access and labor costs.
| Top 20 Small Cities to Start a Business | |
| 1. St. George, UT | 11. South Bradenton, FL |
| 2. Cedar City, UT | 12. Redmond, OR |
| 3. Williston, ND | 13. Bend, OR |
| 4. Washington, UT | 14. Missoula, MT |
| 5. Logan, UT | 15. Pleasant Grove, UT |
| 6. Aberdeen, SD | 16. East Lake-Orient Park, FL |
| 7. Midvale, UT | 17. Carrollton, GA |
| 8. Fort Myers, FL | 18. Lehi, UT |
| 9. Clearfield, UT | 19. Orem, UT |
| 10. Bozeman, MT | 20. Cheyenne, WY |
Key Stats — Small-Business Owner Survey
- Recovery will be a long process: 50 million small business owners say it will take more than a year for their business to return to pre-COVID levels.
- Business owners prioritize public health: 56 percent of small-business owners think that minimizing COVID-19 deaths is more important than re-opening the economy, a 29 percent decrease from last year.
- 2020 was the hardest year ever: Two-thirds of small business owners say that 2020 was their most difficult year in business.
To view the full report and your city’s rank, please visit:
wallethub.com/edu/best-small-cities-to-start-a-business
