Small Businesses Have St. Louis Regional Advantage

With 69,042 small businesses in the St. Louis area, which includes Arnold, the region ranked as the fifth best Midwestern area for owners of growing businesses.

The top four small business regions, as reported by the St. Louis Business Journal, were

1. Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
2. Omaha, NE
3. Des Moines, IA
4. Columbus, OH

Small businesses, for the rankings, had 100 employees or less. The ranking considered population growth for the last five years; one- and five-year private sector job growth, ratio of small businesses per 1,000 residents, one-year change in that ratio and one-year increase in the number of small businesses.