It appears that Michigan is one of the top states in the country when it comes to helping small businesses thrive. According to a study released by Value Penguin, four Michigan cities ranked in the top-20 with Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids/Wyoming ranked 9th and 10th respectively. East Lansing/Lansing tied for 18th and Kalamazoo/Portage came in at 20th in the country among the 200 metropolitan areas observed in the study. The various regions were ranked based on how they compared to each other in the following categories: taxes, economy and business community. The study used data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Small Business Administration to rank the cities.