HOLLAND, Mich. (WOOD) — West Michigan is home to the best small city to start a business, a new analysis concludes.
WalletHub compared 1,261 small markets nationwide and Holland came out on top again this year. It was the only Michigan city to crack the top 50.
WalletHub said its analysis was based on 16 data sets, including the average work week, quantity of small businesses, per capita startups, business revenue and growth, and the variety of companies.
Rounding out the top five small cities to start a business was Carbondale, Illinois; Springville, Utah; East Chicago, Indiana and Jefferson City, Missouri.
Kentwood earned a mention from WalletHub as the city with the most affordable office space, with an annual rate of $9.06 per square foot – nearly seven times lower than Mountain View, California, which had the priciest office space among small cities included in the report.
Battle Creek was among the six cities for least accessible financing.
Mount Pleasant and East Lansing – home to Central Michigan University and Michigan State University, respectively – were among the six cities with the shortest average work week.
In the overall rankings, Kentwood came in at 52nd this year, down from one spot last year. The next West Michigan city on the list was Portage at 109, followed by Wyoming at 115, Battle Creek at 286, Muskegon at 365 and Kalamazoo at 368.
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