NEW YORK
If you're looking to start your own business, you want all odds to be in your favor. Location is key, and most businesses thrive or die based on it.
But, location doesn't just mean a pretty view. Instead, turn your eyes toward states with ample funding, a large, educated labor pool, and low tax burdens. These are the key ingredients for ensuring a successful enterprise. States like Texas, Colorado and Washington have what it takes to help set entrepreneurs up for the best chance at survival.
The editors at FitSmallBusiness.com, the digital business publication, decided to closely examine the locations best suited for starting a business, so they compiled data from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Kauffman Index, and the U.S. Small Business Administration to come up with this definitive ranking. Unlike other studies the editors have conducted, they did not find any geographic pattern - states in both the best and worst lists stretched from north to south and coast to coast.
The Top 5 States to Start a Business
#1. Texas
#2. Colorado
#3. Washington
#4. Missouri
#5. Florida
The Bottom 5 States to Start a Business
#1. West Virginia
#2. Vermont
#3. Rhode Island
#4. New Mexico
#5. Maine
Fit Small Business editors used this following weighted metrics to compile the ranking
General business environment - 30 percent
Tax climate - 20 percent
Startup costs & availability of funding - 20 percent
Labor market - 10 percent
Quality of life - 10 percent
Cost of living - 10 percent
Studies like this are the most interesting for us to conduct, says Sarah Wright-Killinger, Managing Editor, Fit Small Business. None of us could have predicted the diverse mix of states at the high and low ends of the spectrum, she added.
