Looking for nation’s lowest-cost small cities for startups? No. 9’s in the KC metro
April 23, 2018 | Startland News Staff
A Kansas City suburb finds itself among the top 10 lowest-cost small cities for starting a business, according to a new nationwide report.
Best Small Cities
by Business Costs
1. Goldsboro, North Carolina
2. Bay City, Michigan
3. Jackson, Michigan
4. Salisbury, North Carolina
5. Sanford, North Carolina
6. Muskegon, Michigan
7. Asheboro, North Carolina
8. Cape Girardeau, Missouri
9. Raytown, Missouri
10. Kalamazoo, Michigan
Raytown, Missouri, lands at No. 9 on the ranking by personal finance website WalletHub — just below Cape Girardeau, Missouri, at No. 8. The rest of the top 10 is filled by markets in North Carolina and Michigan.
WalletHub’s findings were based on office space affordability, labor costs, corporate taxes, and cost of living, examining more than 1,200 small cities (population 25,000 to 100,000) across the United States.
Raytown and Cape Girardeau fared particularly well on the cost of office space, recording some of the cheapest in the nation, according to the report.
Other Missouri cities ranking in the top 100 for low startup business costs included Jefferson City (18), Joplin (49), St. Joseph (56), Hazelwood (67), and Gladstone (93).
Human capital
While no cities in Kansas earned high marks for low costs associated with starting a business, two were noted for their access to resources.
Manhattan, home to Kansas State University, ranked No. 26, followed by suburban Leawood at No. 81, in that category.
Key metrics included financing accessibility, investor access, human resource availability, higher education assets, workforce educational attainment, working-age population growth, and job growth, according the report.
Best in Show Me
Looking at a wholistic spectrum of business costs, access to resources, and business environment, WalletHub also determined an overall ranking of the best cities in which to start a business.
The report suggest a clear advantage for Missouri over Kansas with eight Show Me State cities — largely in the St. Louis metro area — in the ranking’s top 100. Those included Jefferson City (31), Maryland Heights (34), Cape Girardeau (36), St. Peters (38), Chesterfield (70), Hazelwood (75), St. Charles (80), and Wentzville (99).
Raytown ranked No. 187 overall among the 1,261 cities studied. Other nearby Missouri metro markets included Liberty (171), St. Joseph (173), Gladstone (193), and Lee’s Summit (212).
A previous report by WalletHub also lauded Missouri as one of the best states in which to launch a business.
No Kansas cities cracked the top 100 in the latest overall best cities snapshot.
The highest-ranking contenders from the Sunflower State were Dodge City (132), Salina (208), Hutchinson (252), Manhattan (254), and Leavenworth (293).
2018 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Makefully Studios earns $1M grant for problem-solving game co-designed by kids
A Kansas City media company’s commitment to play-based research and development recently helped score Makefully Studios a $1 million government grant for a children’s problem-solving game. “There’s no other word but proud and grateful,” said Anna Jordan-Douglass, founder and chief creative officer of Makefully Studios, which recently was awarded the funds from the National Science Foundation’s…
A dough master brought Chinese hand-pulled noodles (拉面) to South JoCo; a robotic cat delivers them to your table
Hand-pulled noodles were a staple in Elvin Liu’s childhood, he shared, joking that the traditional noodles could be found on any street corner in China — just like Starbucks in the United States. “I moved to Kansas around the end of the year of 2010. I saw a lot of noodle soups, like pho and…
Filling a capital void: AltCap builds capacity, momentum after its busiest year to date
Editor’s note: The following story is sponsored by Academy Bank, a Kansas City based community bank, and is part of a series of features spotlighting some of the bank’s startup and small business partners. The past 18 months have been a critical turning point for AltCap, said Ruben Alonso, as the nonprofit has grown to…
MO tech jobs pay double the state’s average wage, fueling economic growth, new report says
Missouri’s tech industry remains a driving economic force despite widespread job loss and economic turmoil caused by COVID-19, according to a new report that details how the Show Me State is outpacing national tech growth. Among the report’s key takeaways: Average earnings for all jobs in Missouri was $64,000 in 2020, while the average earnings of…