Alpharetta Named Top Small City to Start a Business

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Nearly two months after it named Alpharetta the top place to start a business in Georgia, NerdWallet has given the Technology City of the South the first slot in its list of the Top Small Cities to Start a Business.

The consumer finance website examined 463 U.S. cities with at least 500 businesses and populations from 50,000 to 100,000 to “determine where the best opportunities are for those starting a business,” the site notes in its summary.

NerdWallet came up with each city’s overall score by looking at data from the U.S. Census Bureau to assess each city’s business climate, which accounted for 65 percent of the score, and local economic health, which made up the remaining 35 percent.

Cities in the top 10 include:

1. Alpharetta, Georgia
2. Redmond, Washington
3. Wilmington, Delaware
4. Troy, Michigan
5. Minnetonka, Minnesota
6. Waukesha, Wisconsin
7. Newport Beach, California
8. Bethesda, Maryland
9. Greenville, South Carolina
10. La Crosse, Wisconsin

Other Georgia cities that clear the 100 mark include Sandy Springs at 38 and Marietta at 41.

NerdWallet notes that eight of the top 10 cities are close to major cities, which allows companies to operate within a smaller, close-knit business community, while still having access to cities such as Atlanta, Seattle and Washington, D.C.”

It also states the average unemployment rate for the top 10 cities was 5.1 percent and their average of median incomes is about $65,000 -- 41 percent higher than the overall average of all cities analyzed.

Tell us: what do you think of the list?

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