As a business owner or an aspiring entrepreneur, you may reach a point at which you realize your hometown or your current city isn’t the best place to develop your career or grow your business. Perhaps it doesn’t house your current target market, or maybe just it isn’t the up-and-coming city for tech startups or healthcare careers.
Regardless of what pulls you out of your hometown and attracts you toward a city that will support your growing business, deciding where to take your career can be a complicated decision. The first step is to evaluate your business, and then learn about your potential destinations to determine where is the best place in which to relocate based on your specific career goals. Here are some of the factors you should consider in your search:
Some factors to consider
Cost of living
Research the cost of living of all of your options to evaluate not only how much your business will cost to start and operate, but also to make sure it’s an affordable place to live for you and your family. As you begin to look through new houses for sale in a potential location, having a clear understanding of the area’s cost of living will help you make the smartest investment with your time and money.
Demographics
Is this city a college town? Or a focal point for snowbirds? Is it family friendly? Ask yourself who lives in the area and if your target market can be reached in this city. Are there enough potential customers or plenty of job candidates to keep your business thriving?
Competition
The proximity of your direct competitors can make or break your business’ chance of survival. In some cases, having competition nearby can attract more customers and attention to your location, and challenge you to acquire some of their customer base. However, if a nearby powerhouse is likely to absorb all of your potential business, it may be worthwhile to explore another location.
Best Cities to Start a Business In
Once you’ve thought about all factors in depth, you can make the most educated choice in a home for your business. That said, here are just five of the impressive collection of entrepreneurial cities that should be at the top of your search in 2021:
Austin, TX
Austin is known for its ability to harvest innovative, creative talent from its surrounding areas. The city has become a hotspot for small businesses due to its affordability; small business owners can take advantage of the fact that there is no personal income tax and no corporate tax rate. Amazon, Google, Facebook, and other huge names have set up shop here, paving the way for other smaller, ambitious startups.
Nashville, TN
Aside from being the hub for hopeful, aspiring country music artists and tourism, Nashville might surprise you with the fact that it is the home to a number of healthcare startups, which make up for a large portion of the growth it experiences. Considering healthcare is an industry with little to no possibility of becoming irrelevant in the near future, this is a place to consider for those planning to sink their claws into a healthcare startup. The city also ranks third on the list for net business creation in the years 2017-2018.
Salt Lake City, UT
Also known as the “Silicon Slopes”, Salt Lake City is known for its prevalence of tech startups. With giants like Adobe and Oracle to look up to, up-and-coming internet companies have followed suit, such as Ancestry.com. What makes this city so enticing for early-stage businesses is its highly-qualified talent, as 45% of its workforce has a bachelor’s degree or higher. What sets it apart, too, is that it’s a desirable place to live in terms of affordability, aesthetics, and proximity of attractions.
Raleigh, NC
With many renowned local universities like Duke, UNC, and NC State, which all have sought-after engineering and computer science programs, it’s no wonder that Raleigh is a hotspot for software companies. This area ranks fourth on the list of most-educated population in the country, making it an ideal place for intelligent graduates to establish themselves in the early stages of their careers. The city is also a reasonably short drive from some popular NC cities along with short day-trips to attractive locations like Myrtle Beach and Washington D.C.
Denver, CO
Denver is listed in the top five fastest-growing cities in the U.S., with two other large-category CO cities, Colorado Springs and Aurora, ranking within the top 25. What has caused this mass migration to the midwest? Denver, specifically, proves appealing to entrepreneurs based on its environment and culture, which makes it one of the most popular cities for millennials to move to. Its most dominant industries are in artificial intelligence and machine learning, with other large numbers in blockchain and cryptocurrency.
The possibilities are seemingly endless for where your business might take you, but with some research and thoughtful deliberation, you can make the best choice. Think about your business, your customers, finances, and even your personal life, and the right city will reveal itself and your business can thrive.
