Orlando, Miami And Tampa Among Best US Cities To Start A Business

MIAMI, FL — Orlando, Miami and Tampa are among the top 10 best large U.S. cities to start a new business, according to a new study by WalletHub.

The personal finance website ranked Orlando first out of 100 U.S. cities while Miami ranked third and Tampa ranked fifth based on 19 factors ranging from the five-year business-survival rate to office-space affordability.

"Today, more than 15.3 million people in the U.S., or nearly 10 percent of the labor force, work for themselves," WalletHub editors penned. "And there is always room in the market for new ideas, products, services and multi-million-dollar success stories — if one knows where to look."

Orlando ranked 26th for labor costs, 31st for cost of living, 46th for length of average workweek in hours, 38th for share of college-educated population and 39th for industry variety.

Miami ranked fifth for labor costs, 31st for cost of living, 39th for length of average workweek in hours, 21st for the amount of venture investment per person, 18th for the average growth in number of small businesses and first in startups per person.

Tampa ranked 42nd for financing accessibility, 32nd for labor costs, 10th for cost of living, 27th for length of average workweek in hours and 36th in share of college-educated population.

Three other Florida cities — Jacksonville, St. Petersburg and Hialeah — finished among the top 25 on the WalletHub list.

Jacksonville ranked 12th. St. Petersburg finished 14th and Hialeah finished 24th.

Elsewhere in the United States, Oklahoma City ranked second. Austin finished fourth. Charlotte, Durham and Raleigh ranked sixth, seventh and eighth respectively while Atlanta and Denver rounded out the top 10.

Read more about the study here.