Tuesday, May 7, 2019

Starting a Business in Florida?

WalletHub (WalletHub.com) published an article titled:

2019’s Best Large Cities to Start a Business


Guess what...?



Five Florida cities made the top 15: Orlando, Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville and St. Petersburg! That's 33%.

"Total Score" Explained

WalletHub ranked 100 cities in 3 areas, then wrapped the rankings into a single number. The highest "Total Score" is 61 and the lowest, 100th position, is 39. The 20th position is 55.

They examined three areas, which are Business Environment, Access to Resources, and Business Costs. WalletHub explains each area in detail.

Business Environment - 50% weight

They used 8 criteria, including length of the average work week, startups per capita, 5-year survival rate, and an "entrepreneurship index."

Access to Resources - 25% weight

This section used only 7 criteria.

There were two similar categories, the growth of the working age population and a "human-capital availability." The latter is "number of civilian job openings in the labor force minus the unemployment rate."

Education was also evaluated twice: (1) the percent of people over 25 year old with degrees and (2) higher education assets.

Business Costs - 25% weight

Labor Costs were weighted twice as much as the other three areas: Cost of Living, Corporate Taxes, and Office Space Affordability.

#1 Orlando ~ Total Score 60.93

  • Business Environment Rank: 6 of 100
  • Access to Resources Rank: 50 of 100
  • Business Costs Rank: 17 of 100

#3 Miami ~ Total Score 60.48

  • Business Environment Rank: 2 of 100
  • Access to Resources Rank: 45 of 100
  • Business Costs Rank: 30 of 100

#5 Tampa ~ Total Score 99% of Orlando

  • Business Environment Rank: 20 of 100
  • Access to Resources Rank: 39 of 100
  • Business Costs Rank: 16 of 100

#12 Jacksonville ~ Total Score 56.77

  • Business Environment Rank: 24 of 100
  • Access to Resources Rank: 77 of 100
  • Business Costs Rank: 9 of 100

#14 St. Pete ~ Total Score 56.61 (93% of Orlando)

  • Business Environment Rank: 32 of 100
  • Access to Resources Rank: 68 of 100
  • Business Costs Rank: 11 of 100

States in the Top 15

  • Florida: 5 cities ranked in the top 15
  • Texas: 4 cities ranked in the top 15
  • North Carolina: 3 cities
  • 1 city each for Colorado, Georgia, and Oklahoma
  • (In positions 16-20, Texas had 3 cities and California had 2.)

State Totals - Overall

Most of the states only had 1-2 cities on the list. Perhaps this was because they don't have many "large" cities to consider. Florida didn't have as many large cities as Texas or California, but what Florida does have rates better than the rest. California shows up for the first time as #19.

  • 17 ~ California cities in the top 100
  • 13 ~ Texas cities
  • 7 ~ Arizona
  • 6 ~ Florida (also: #3-Miami, #12-Jacksonville, #24-Hialeah)
  • 5 ~ North Carolina
  • 4 ~ Nevada and Ohio
  • 3 ~ Colorado

Comparison to Orlando (#1)

FYI: I live in Clearwater, two miles south of Safety Harbor. Google maps say that from here
  • I live 17 miles west of #5 Tampa, and 
  • I live 17 miles north of #14 St. Petersburg
  • I'm only 100 miles west of the number 1 city, Orlando!

The immediate assumption is that Orlando scored #1 in all of the 19 critera in the three areas. Nope. Tampa ranked higher in resources and business costs. St Pete ranked higher in business costs!

  • Business Environment Rank: 6 of 100
    • Higher than both Tampa & St. Pete
  • Access to Resources Rank: 50 of 100
    • Lower than Tampa and higher than St. Pete
  • Business Costs Rank: 17 of 100
    • Lower than both Tampa & St. Pete


    WalletHub.com/edu/Best-Cities-to-Start-a-Business/2281/





    The bottom line is that is a very business-friendly location, and to apply a military cliche, and B2B businesses have a target-rich environment.

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