Best big cities to start a business in America

For many people, owning their own business is the American dream. But that dream can be a bit easier to achieve, depending on where you live.

Financial website WalletHub took a close look at many metro areas across the country to determine the best big cities for starting a business, and found that cities in states like Oklahoma, Texas, South Dakota and Montana actually beat out places in California and New York.

For its study, WalletHub compared 182 cities, including 150 of the most populated U.S. cities plus at least two of the most populated cities in each state, and evaluated them on three dimensions — business environment, access to resources and business costs — using 19 relevant metrics.

WalletHub found that budding entrepreneurs might want to make the move to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, which scored the top spot on its ranking. Oklahoma City had solid scores in all three categories, especially for business environment, in which it placed eighth.

Austin, Texas placed second and Sioux Falls, South Dakota rounded out WalletHub’s top three best spots as the best large cities in which to start a business in America.

Meanwhile, cities that fell to the bottom of WalletHub’s ranking include Columbia, Maryland and Nashua, New Hampshire. Warwick, Rhode Island placed last.

Here are the top 10 best large cities in which to start a business, according to WalletHub.

1. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

2. Austin, Texas

3. Sioux Falls, South Dakota

4. Missoula, Montana

5. Durham, North Carolina

6. Bismarck, North Dakota

7. Cheyenne, Wyoming

8. Billings, Montana

9. Charlotte, North Carolina

10. Raleigh, North Carolina

Within its study, WalletHub also found Lewiston, Maine has the cheapest office spaces, while San Francisco, New York City and Washington, D.C. all tied for the most expensive office spaces. Meanwhile, Irvine, California boasts the most educated population, while San Bernardino, California has the least educated population.

Other interesting findings in WalletHub’s study include Anchorage, Alaska having the longest average work week, and Burlington, Vermont having the shortest, as well as Detroit, Michigan having the highest availability of human capital and Orlando, Florida having the lowest.

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