2015’s Best & Worst Cities to Work for a Small Business

From WalletHub May 6, 2015

With National Small Business Week in full gear, graduation ceremonies commencing and small businesses making up 99.7 percent of all U.S. firms, the leading personal finance social network WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis of 2015’s Best & Worst Cities to Work for a Small Business.

In order to help job seekers consider small businesses as attractive employment prospects, WalletHub examined the small business environment within 100 of the largest U.S. metro areas across 11 key metrics. Our data set includes such metrics as net small business job growth, industry variety and earnings for small business employees.

Honolulu Ranks 76th Overall -- 86th for "Small Business Environment"  35th for "Economic Environment"

Key Stats

• The number of small businesses per 1,000 inhabitants is two times higher in the Miami metro area than in the Bakersfield, Calif., metro area.
• The earnings for small business employees adjusted for cost of living are three times higher in the Houston metro area than in the Honolulu metro area.
• The median annual income adjusted for cost of living is two times higher in the Ogden, Utah, metro area than in the McAllen, Texas, metro area.
• The unemployment rate is four times higher in the Fresno, Calif., metro area than in the Provo, Utah, metro area.
• By 2042, the Cape Coral, Fla., metro area is projected to experience the highest population increase, at 103.4 percent, and the Youngstown, Ohio, metro area the highest population decrease, at 11.1 percent.