Denver the Best, Detroit the Worst for Small Business Employment

Denver the Best, Detroit the Worst for Small Business Employment

by Nathan Eddy

Denver Takes the Top Spot for Small Biz Employment

The Mile High metropolitan area boasts nearly 30 businesses with fewer than 250 employees per 1,000 residents, a workforce that’s growing at the second fastest rate in the country.

Beantown Is a Great Place for Midmarket Companies

Factors like small business vitality and hours worked were enough to overcome a relatively high cost of living and give Boston the distinction of being the second best city to work for a small business in 2013.

Minneapolis Gives the Midwest Small Business Chops

Minneapolis ranks in the top 10 nationally in terms of small business vitality, industry variety and stress, and companies with fewer than 50 employees make up roughly half of the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce’s membership.

Seattle Makes It Rain for SMBs

The Emerald City landed in the top 10 for unemployment, new hire earnings and industry variety, and is a key West Coast hub for manufacturing, transportation and entrepreneurship.

The City by the Bay Is Ideal for Small Businesses

The San Francisco Bay Area boasts the sixth-most small businesses per capita, ranks fifth in terms of both small business vitality and net small business job growth, and offers the second highest wages to new hires.

San Diego’s Silver Linings Playbook

While it was ranked the fifth worst city for small business employees in 2013, the metropolitan area ranks fifth nationally in terms of net small business job growth over the past four years.

City of Brotherly Love Not Affectionate Toward SMBs

Philadelphia ranks in the bottom 10 nationally in terms of small business vitality, unemployment, stress and cost of living, though its employees work the fourth-fewest hours, on average.

California’s Capital Needs a Crutch

Sacramento’s lethargic economic recovery, combined with below-average job growth and stress rankings, explains why the city is among the worst to work for a small business in 2013.

Riverside, Calif., Not Far Behind Sacramento

Out of the 30 cities that CardHub evaluated, the Riverside metropolitan area ranked last in terms of number of small businesses per capita, small business vitality and unemployment rate.

Detroit Just Can’t Catch a Break

The Motor City’s small business community continues to be marred by barrel-bottom rankings in terms of small businesses per capita, small business vitality, net small business job growth, unemployment rate, new hire earnings, hours worked and industry variety. Ouch.