Study: St. Louis, Springfield, KC earn high marks for cities to startup
May 2, 2017 | Meghan LeVota
Though still performing well on a national level, Kansas City, Mo., was recently rated as the third-best large city in Missouri for founders to start a business, according to a recent study.
Personal finance website WalletHub found that St. Louis and Springfield are the No. 7 and No. 11 best large cities to start a business in the U.S., respectively, surpassing Kansas City’s rank of No. 32.
WalletHub ranked 150 large cities by evaluating their performance across 18 differently-weighted metrics, ranging from business survival rate and office-space affordability to labor costs and access to resources. To learn more on the study’s methodology, click here.
St. Louis earned a high ranking thanks to its access to resources and low business costs, including low labor costs, office-space affordability, cost of living and corporate taxes. Springfield snagged a No. 1 national ranking for low business costs, which appears to have fueled its top-15 ranking.
Kansas City earned its ranking for relatively low business costs and business environment, which was calculated by startups per capita, five-year survival rate entrepreneurship index and more.
Kansas City’s dropped from its 2016 ranking in the study, in which it earned a No. 16 spot, while St. Louis ranked as the No. 5 city and Springfield earned No. 8.
Across the state line into Kansas, Wichita earned a No. 103 ranking and Overland Park nabbed a No. 122 rating.
Overall, Oklahoma City was ranked the top large city to start a business, followed by Salt Lake City and Charlotte. To see the complete ranking, click here.
2017 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
LPOXY initiates $28M Series A financing with 5 Horizons Ventures to fund pivotal trial
PLATTE CITY, Mo. — Funding to secure the upcoming trial of a Missouri biopharmaceutical company’s solution for preventing a deadly gut infection could prove critical in the fight against a condition that claims 80 U.S. lives daily, said Dr. Larry Sutton. LPOXY Therapeutics, which is developing a novel non-antibiotic therapy to prevent Clostridioides difficile infections…
When farmers get paid faster, everyone eats; HitchPin brings fintech to ag, good to humanity, founder says
Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro. The fintech revolution typically overlooks agriculture, Trevor McKeeman said, noting that any move to bring tools — like a payment platform within a digital marketplace — definitely breaks ground for…
Chocolate maker (and coffee roaster) earns bean-to-bar accolades from his Grandview base
Kansas City has plenty of confectioners, but it’s rare to find true bean-to-bar work, Mike King said. That distinction makes Encore Coffee and Chocolate’s process both resourceful and extraordinary. “There’s only a few of us that are making our own chocolate,” said King, founder of Grandview-built Encore Coffee and Chocolate. “I consider myself a chocolate…
E-Scholars rebrands, extending Regnier legacy deeper into influential UMKC accelerator
E-Scholars — the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s flagship accelerator program — isn’t going anywhere, Alex Matlack shared, but it is getting a rebrand. After listening to feedback from alumni, mentors, and community members, the program formally known as Entrepreneurship Scholars is now the Regnier Venture Accelerator, joining the likes of the Regnier Venture Creation Challenge…