With National Small Business Week approaching and COVID-19 having caused around 100,000 permanent business closures in 2020, the personal-finance website WalletHub today 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% of small business owners think that minimizing COVID-19 deaths is more important than re-opening the economy, a 29% 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.
