The Greater Charlotte, N.C., area is the best city to work for a small business, according to a new survey by Wallet Hub, the three-year-old website that provides tools and information to consumers and small business owners to help them make financial decisions.
Wallet Hub analyzed the small-business environment in the 100 most populated metros in the U.S., and used 11 metrics to assess which cities are friendliest to workers and job seekers.
The study concluded that Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, N.C., ranked first as the country’s best small business environment, based on the number of businesses with fewer than 250 employees, the growth of those business, net job growth, industry variety, the percentage of small businesses that provide health insurance to employees, and employee earnings.
Wallet Hub also ranked Greater Charlotte 18th for its economic environment, which includes its median annual income, unemployment rate, average hours worked, population growth, and “well-being index.”
Combining the two scores, Wallet Hub ranked Charlotte first overall as the best city to work for a small business. Charlotte is followed by Raleigh, N.C., (with a small-business environment rank of 10th, and economic environment rank of 3rd). Oklahoma City (2nd and 21st), Austin-Round Rock, Texas (14th and 4th), and Omaha-Council Bluffs, Neb. (4th and 12th).
The worst metros to be working for a small business, based on Wallet Hub’s criteria, are Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio/Pa. (100th, 95th), Stockton-Lodi, Calif. (99th, 85th), Toledo, Ohio (87th, 100th) Scranton-Wilkes Barre-Hazelton, Pa. (84th, 99th), and Fresno, Calif. (98th, 72th).
Wallet Hub also ranked metros by different subcategories. For example, three of the top five metros with the highest net small-business job growth are in Florida: Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Lakeland-Winter Haven, and North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton. Conversely three of the five metros with the lowest small-business job growth are in California: Bakersfield, Stockton-Lodi, and Fresno.
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Fla., ranks highest for the number of small business per 1,000 inhabitants. That ratio in Miami is two times higher than in Bakerfield, which ranks lowest in this subcategory.
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas, has the highest earnings for small business employees (adjusted for cost of living), whereas Honolulu has the lowest earnings.
Wallet Hub also finds that the unemployment rate in Fresno is four times higher than in Provo, Utah. Cape Coral is expected to have the highest increase (103.4%) in population through 2042, while Youngstown is projected to have the highest decrease over the period (11.1%)
Wallet Hub offers some tips for employees looking to land a small-business job. It recommends that job seekers tailor their search, “but avoiding limiting yourself” to a certain job classification or industry. It also recommends that job seekers look beyond their immediate compensation and consider the longer-range growth prospects that an employer can offer. And job candidates need to be ready to defend any information about themselves that might be floating around on social media.
Related Stories
| Oct 4, 2012
2012 Reconstruction Awards Gold Winner: Wake Forest Biotech Place, Winston-Salem, N.C.
Reconstruction centered on Building 91.1, a historic (1937) five-story former machine shop, with its distinctive façade of glass blocks, many of which were damaged. The Building Team repointed, relocated, or replaced 65,869 glass blocks.
| Oct 4, 2012
2012 Reconstruction Award Platinum Winner: Building 1500, Naval Air Station Pensacola Pensacola, Fla.
The Building Team, led by local firms Caldwell Associates Architects and Greenhut Construction, had to tackle several difficult problems to make the historic building meet current Defense Department standards having to do with anti-terrorism, force protection, blast-proofing, and progressive collapse.
| Oct 4, 2012
2012 Reconstruction Awards Platinum Winner: City Hall, New York, N.Y.
New York's City Hall last received a major renovation nearly a century ago. Four years ago, a Building Team led by construction manager Hill International took on the monumental task of restoring City Hall for another couple of hundred years of active service.
| Oct 4, 2012
BD+C's 29th Annual Reconstruction Awards
Presenting 11 projects that represent the best efforts of distinguished Building Teams in historic preservation, adaptive reuse, and renovation and addition projects.
| Oct 4, 2012
Integrated security systems—replacing legacy systems
To a large degree, building security is driven by the integration of a variety of electronic security systems. The market and engineering of these systems exploded in the post-9/11 era and has shown few signs of tapering off.
| Oct 4, 2012
Gilbane publishes Fall 2012 construction industry economic report
Report outlines fluctuation in construction spending; predicts continued movement toward recovery.
| Oct 3, 2012
Fifth public comment period now open for update to USGBC's LEED Green Building Program
LEED v4 drafts and the public comment tool are now available on the newly re-launched, re-envisioned USGBC.org website.
| Oct 2, 2012
Dow Business Services Center building named 2012 “America’s Best Buildings of the Year” winner
Building constructed with air sealing and insulation products from Dow Building Solutions.
| Sep 18, 2012
MKK opens office in North Dakota
MKK is currently working on seven projects in North Dakota, including a hotel, restaurant, truck stop, office building, and apartment complex.
| Sep 13, 2012
Leo A Daly Company promotes Kraskiewicz to senior vice president
Kraskiewicz, who most recently served as chief operations officer for the Leo A Daly division, will guide brand management, business development, operations and financial performance for 18 offices worldwide.
