Baltimore Among Worst Cities For Business Startups: Study

BALTIMORE, MD — Tired of punching someone else’s time clock? If you’ve been thinking about starting your own business, you’re well positioned if you live in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the best large city to start a new business, according to a new study.

Baltimore ranked No. 156 among America's 182 largest cities considered in the analysis.

Columbia was ranked No. 180, the third worst place to launch a startup among the large U.S. cities evaluated.

Personal finance website WalletHub looked at what it takes for a startup to be successful, from the five-year business survival rate to the affordability of office space, across three areas — business environment, access to resources and business costs.

Baltimore got its highest marks — ranking No. 80 out of 182 cities — when it came to business costs. It ranked 158th for business environment and 116th for access to resources.

Columbia had low marks all around, coming in 140th for business environment, 154th for access to resources and 172nd for business cost out of the 182 cities evaluated. It was dinged in particular for its high labor costs, where it was 181st.

About 15 million people, or about 10 percent of the U.S. labor force are self-employed, according to the personal finance website WalletHub. Some of the greatest opportunities are available in the technology sector, but others cited by WalletHub experts include transportation and the moving of goods and services, rideshare services like Uber and Lyft, artificial intelligence, and renewable energy.

Here are the top 10 large cities for startups, according to WalletHub:

1. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
2. Austin, Texas
3. Sioux Falls, South Dakota
4. Missoula, Montana
5. Durham, North Carolina
6. Bismarck, North Dakota
7. Cheyenne, South Dakota
8. Billings, Montana
9. Charlotte, North Carolina
10. Raleigh, North Carolina

On the flip side, the study found these 10 cities least conducive to business startups:
1. Warwick, Rhode Island
2. Nashua, New Hampshire
3. Columbia, Maryland
4. Manchester, New Hampshire
5. Pearl City, Hawaii
6. Chesapeake, Virginia
7. Wilmington, Delaware
8. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
9. Vancouver, Washington
10. Providence, Rhode Island

See the full rankings from WalletHub.

Some other findings from the report:

• Lewiston, Maine, has the lowest average annual rent for office space, $10.19 per square foot, which is 7.9 times cheaper than in San Francisco, the city with the highest at $80.22 per square foot.
• Detroit has the lowest labor costs (median annual income), $26,249, which is 4.3 times lower than in Fremont, Calif., the city with the highest at $111,613.
• Laredo, Texas, has the lowest cost-of-living index, 77, which is 2.5 times lower than in San Francisco, the city with the highest at 193.
• Irvine, Calif., has the highest share of college-educated population, 68 percent, which is 6.1 times higher than in San Bernardino, Calif., the city with the lowest at 11.2 percent.
• Miami, Hialeah, Fort Lauderdale & Pembroke Pines, Fla., have the most startups per 100,000 residents, 234.72, which is 12.6 times more than in Columbus, Ga., the city with the fewest at 18.56.

For its report, WalletHub used data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the National Venture Capital Association, Yelp, Indeed.com, the Tax Foundation, the Council for Community and Economic Research, LoopNet, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and its own research.

More information on methodology is available here.

The biggest mistake entrepreneurs make is not learning from their mistakes and not making enough purposeful mistakes, Colette Hoption, an associate professor of management at the Albers School of Business and Economics at Seattle University, said in a statement accompanying the study.

“Mistakes are a part of learning,” she said. “They can keep us humble and grounded. And when used strategically, they can help us avoid common decision-making traps.”

Adaptability and quick thinking are important in entrepreneurship, she said, noting: "It’s important to remember that you can’t know all of the answers [and] all of the important moves all the time because some things will take us by surprise.

— By Patch editors Beth Dalbey and Elizabeth Janney

Photo by Shutterstock.