With April 29 kicking off National Small Business Week, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2018’s Best Large Cities to Start a Business. And Grand Rapids is in the top 15.
In order to help aspiring entrepreneurs maximize their chances for long-term prosperity, WalletHub compared more than 180 U.S. cities across 19 key indicators of startup viability. The data set ranges from five-year business-survival rate to office-space affordability.

Grand Rapids wound up 13th best in the country for start ups, the third year in a row in the top 20. Oklahoma City topped the list, followed by Austin, TX; Sioux Falls, SD; Missoula, MT and Durham, NC in the top five.

Detroit was listed at 74th.

Starting a Business in Grand Rapids (1=Best; 91=Avg.)

  • 29th – Financing Accessibility
  • 32nd – Office-Space Affordability
  • 42nd – Labor Costs
  • 47th – Cost of Living
  • 76th – Share of College-Educated Population
  • 11th – Industry Variety

 

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