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Grand Rapids ranks #2 for places to start a business

Posted at 9:19 AM, May 02, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-02 09:19:42-04

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – If it seems like there are a lot of new small businesses in Grand Rapids, it is because entrepreneurs have figured out Grand Rapids is a pretty good place to start a business.

Grand Rapids ranks #2 in the country for WalletHub.com’s 2016 Best Cities to Start a Business.  Earlier in April, WalletHub named Holland, Michigan as the #1 small city in the U.S. to start a business.

Grand Rapids is ranked along with the 150 biggest U.S. cities.  Wallethub used 15 key metrics, including five-year business survival rate, office-space affordability, labor costs, and education in the workforce.  Grand Rapids ranked #1 for the Highest Average Growth of Number of Small Businesses in the country.

The only other Michigan city on the list was Detroit, coming in at #56. Detroit ranked #1 for labor costs and #2 for availability of human capital, but near the bottom for educated workforce.  Chicago ranked #78.

#1 on the list was Sioux Falls, SD. Oklahoma City, Lincoln, NE and St. Louis, MO rounded out the top five. Ontario, CA, Providence, RI, and Washington, D.C. were the bottom three.

Click here for the list and all the stats.