bizjournals: The best places to start a small business -- bizjournals

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The two markets with the nation's top scoreas for small-business vitality, according to a new bizjournals study, sit 140 milex apart in the TarHeel State. Raleigh is No. 1 in the nationa l rankings, while Charlotte is No. 2. Bizjournals used a six-partt formula to analyze the nation's 100 largest metropolitab areas, searching for the places that are most conducivw to the creation and development of small The two North Carolina markets emerge as thecleadr leaders, thanks to their outstanding recordd in four statistical categories with a direct impact on small-busines activity: -- Population: Raleigh and Charlotte picked up a combined total of 427,000 new residentds between 2002 and 2007.
Raleigh grew by 21.2 percent in that five-yeaf period, Charlotte by 17.4 percent. Both dwarfes the national growth rateof 4.8 -- Employment: The entire country is endangered by the currentg recession, the two North Carolina hubs included. But they cushionesd any future blow with outstanding job growth durintthe 2003-08 span -- 23.0 percent in 15.4 percent in Charlotte. The U.S. gain was 5.8 -- Small-business growth: The number of small businessews grew dramatically in both markets from 2005 to the latest period covered byofficial statistics. Raleigh led the way with a 4.6 percenty rise, followed by Charlotte at 4.0 percent. The national increase was 1.3 percent.
-- Small-business concentration: The typical U.S. markegt has 24.57 small businesses for every 1,000o residents. The North Carolina markets enjoy concentrations that are at leasr 10percent bigger, with Raleigh at 27.58 per Charlotte at 27.07. And that's not all. Two other marketsx with North Carolina connections rank among the 30 best metrozs inthe study. Greensbork holds 29th place, and the Virginia Beach-Norfolk which extends into northeasternNorth Carolina, is The highest scores in bizjournals' study went to areas that have prosperouws economies, are expanding rapidly, and are densely packex with small businesses.
(Bizjournals defines a smalk business asany private-sector employer with 99 or fewer Seattle ranks third in the overall putting it just behind Raleigh and Charlotted in terms of small-business vitality. Austinm and Boise, Idaho, round out the national top five. The Southy and West offer a definite advantagefor entrepreneurs, accountin for all but one of the . The South is home to five of theleadingb markets, the West to four. The sole exception in the top 10 comexs from theEast -- Portland, Maine, which ranks The highest-rated Midwestern market is Des Iowa, in 22nd place. The in study group had a combined totalof 197.
3 millionh residents as of mid-2007, equaling 65 percent of the nation'e population. They also contained 4.9 milliojn small businesses. At the very bottomj of the new rankingsis Detroit, offeringg further proof that the declining fortunes of the automotive industry have harmedx all kinds of small businesses in Employment has fallen 7.5 percent in the Detroity area since 2003, the worst decline anywhere outside of New which was devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Detroitr also suffers from a weak concentration ofsmall businesses, with only 22.70 per 1,0090 residents, nearly 8 percent belowq the national average. Also mired in the bottom five are Toledo, Calif.
, Dayton and Rochester, N.Y. This is the fourtu time that bizjournals has ratedthe small-business vitality of America's major markets -- and Raleigh is the fourtgh different winner. Orlando was No. 1 in the previous which were releasedin . The runners-u p were two other Florida marketsz that were hot atthe time: No. 2 Sarasota-Bradentob and No. 3 Miami-Forg Lauderdale. (Florida's 2007 superpowers now rank seventh, 44th and respectively.) Last place on the '07 list went to Mass. Miami-Fort Lauderdale finished firstin , boostedc by what was then a prosperoua economy with a rapidly expanding population base. Memphisa finished last.
Portland, Maine, was the leaderf in bizjournals' original standings in , in largd part because it had the nation'z highest concentration of small businessesback then, just as it does now. San Jose occupie d last place in the2005 rankings.