Two Tennessee cities make Wallet Hub’s top 100 large cities to start a business
Twenty-two communities in the Volunteer State make the financial website's rankings of cities with 25,000 to 100,000 residents.
WalletHub, the personal finance website, is out with its annual rankings of the best large and small cities where entrepreneurs are most likely to successfully start a business.
On the large city size, the top four cities are all in Florida. Wonder if there is something in the water? Orlando tops the list followed by Jacksonville (#2), Miami (#3), and Tampa (#4). North Carolina does well, having four cities in the top 15. They are Durham (#5), Charlotte (#8), Raleigh (#11), and Winston-Salem (#13). The latter’s neighbor – Greensboro – comes in at #48.
Tennessee placed two cities in the listing of the top 100 large cities. Nashville was #17, while Memphis placed #70. Neither Chattanooga nor Knoxville made the list of the 100 “Best Large Cities to Start a Business” (listing here).
In order to determine the best cities for launching a business, WalletHub compared 100 cities, across three key dimensions: 1) Business Environment, 2) Access to Resources and 3) Business Costs. The sample considers only the city proper in each case, excluding cities in the surrounding metro area. The evaluation was further broken down using 19 relevant metrics with each graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for start-ups.
What about smaller cities? Wallet Hub ranked 1,334 communities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000 residents (listing here). It also used the same three key dimension but across only 18 metrics.
The top four smaller cities were in the State of Utah. The highest rated nearby smaller communities were Greenville, SC (#22) and Asheville, NC (#48). As far as those in Tennessee, their rankings were as follows:
- #130 – Spring Hill;
- #259 – Gallatin;
- #280 – La Vergne;
- #379 – Smyrna;
- #400 – Lebanon;
- #434 – Columbia;
- #456 – Johnson City;
- #467 – Franklin;
- #500 – Brentwood;
- #509 – Cookeville;
- #534 – Maryville;
- #552 – Cleveland;
- #608 – Jackson;
- #611 – Hendersonville;
- #629 – Morristown;
- #722 – Oak Ridge;
- #744 – Mt. Juliet;
- #970 – Bristol;
- #1062 – Kingsport;
- #1187 – Germantown;
- #1238 – Bartlett; and
- #1266 – Collierville.
