2024 Best Startup Cities Ranking
A new ranking of the Best Cities to Start a Business lists several Florida and Georgia metros as the best places for entrepreneurs to launch a new venture.
In fact, Florida and Georgia cities dominated the list with 5 out of the top 15 spots and a clean sweep of the Top 4 best cities for startups.
The ranking was published by data-driven research firm Clever. While St. Louis-based Clever is primarily focused on educating homebuyers, the company’s Research & Data Center covers a wide variety of topics that factor into a homebuyer’s decision to relocate to a specific city.
How Were The Best Startup Cities Ranked?
For the 2024 Best Startup Cities Ranking, Clever ranked U.S. metros based on several factors including the following metrics:
- Business Applications per 1,000 residents
- Venture Capital
- Job Growth from November ’22 to November ’23
- Average Annual Income
- CEOs per 100,000 residents
- % of Population with a Bachelor’s Degree
- Corporate Tax Rate
- Quality of Life Score
- Business Passion Score
Clever defines the “Business Passion Score” as “how often locals search Google for business-related terms.”
Atlanta Named Best City for Starting A Business
Perhaps not surprisingly, Atlanta was named the best city for startups in the 2024 ranking. Atlanta had previously earned the #5 spot in the 2022 ranking; however, the ATL reigned supreme in 2024 thanks to “strong business growth, a large talent pool, and low operating costs.”
Diving deeper into the individual metrics, we see Atlanta had almost 30 business applications per 1,000 residents over the five-year period from 2018 to 2022. Only Miami had a higher ratio of business applications to total residents with 35 new business applications per 1,000 residents.
Atlanta also scored high marks in its pool of Venture Capital ($1.1 Billion), Job Growth from 2022 to 2023 (2.5%), and the Business Passion Index (#2 overall) reflecting the most Google searches by local residents for business-related topics.
Miami Named Second Best City For Startups
For the number two city in the annual ranking of Best Cities for Startups, you only need to look 600 miles further south. Miami was named the second best city for starting a business in 2024.
As mentioned above, the Magic City led the pack with total business applications per 1,000 residents from 2018-2022 (35) which, Clever notes, is “nearly 2.5x the number filed in the average U.S. city (14.5).”
Miami also received high marks in the total number of business applications in 2023 alone with 40 per 1,000 residents, YOY job growth which is practically double the national average (3% vs. 1.7%), and a massive influx of venture capital post-pandemic, as more out-of-state VC firms relocate to the Sunshine State.
Orlando Named Third Best City For Starting A Business
From Miami, it’s a quick trip north on Brightline to Orlando International Airport to find the #3 metro on the Best Cites for Starting A Business report from Clever.
Orlando also ranked third overall in terms of new business applications (28.7) per 1,000 residents over the past year. The Clever ranking noted that Orlando has a relatively low cost of doing business with average incomes ($53,959) that are 23% lower than the national average.
In terms of overall quality of life, Clever gave the nod to Orlando (6.8) over the top two cities in the ranking: Atlanta (6.4) and Miami (6.2). The report also notes that U.S. News and World Report recently ranked Orlando as the 10th-best place to live in the country with the 11th-best quality of life.
Tampa Named The Fourth Best City For Startups
Clever then takes a short (depending on traffic) drive down the I-4 Corridor to find the fourth best city overall for starting a business: Tampa.
The report notes that this is the second time that Tampa has ranked in the Top 15 Best Cities for Starting A Business, and Tampa actually climbed two spots from its #6 ranking in 2022.
Tampa also ranked #4 overall in the total number of business applications per capita in 2023 with 24.5 or roughly 60% more than the average of all cities in the ranking.
Like Orlando, Tampa is highlighted for its relatively low cost of doing business with average salaries coming in just above $60,000 and, the other low-cost advantages of being located in the Sunshine State cited below.
Economic conditions are quite favorable for businesses in the Sunshine State, with an incorporation filing fee of just $79, compared to $137 across all cities studied. Better yet, Florida has one of the lowest corporate tax rates at 5.5%, which is 22% lower than the studied-city average (7.1%).
Other Cities In The Ranking of Best and Worst Startup Cities
Besides Florida, Texas was the only state with more than one metro in the Top 10 Ranking of Best Cities for Starting a Business: Austin came in at #5 and Dallas ranked #10. And Jacksonville, was the fifth Florida city in the Top 10 coming in at #8.
The other three cities in the Top 10 ranking were San Francisco (#6), Washington, DC (#7) and Charlotte (#9).
At the opposite end of the spectrum, the Clever report lists the following U.S. metros as the 10 Worst Cities for Starting a Business.
- Providence, Rhode Island
- Hartford, Connecticut
- Buffalo, New York
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Louisville, Kentucky
- Memphis, Tennessee
- New Orleans, Louisiana
- Cincinnati, Ohio
- Birmingham, Alabama
- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Contact CII Today
If you own an established business in Florida or Georgia and would like to get a better understanding of the current market value of your company and important steps you can take today to maximize that value, get in touch with a CII business advisor today.