Top 25 U.S. Cities For Doing Business

Joel Kotkin ranks the top 25 cities for doing business in America for Inc. Magazine, and they're not the ones you might expect.

1 minute read

March 8, 2004, 5:00 AM PST

By Chris Steins @planetizen


"For the most part, the top cities aren't found on the fashionable coasts, nor in the biggest, most famous metro areas, but in more prosaic places, including many in the Midwest, that found a way to grow in a tough economy and now seem poised for rapid expansion as the recovery comes in. Especially notable are cities--large, medium, and small--spread throughout the still booming Southeast, including No. 1 ranked Atlanta and a score of Florida cities of various sizes... The central premise behind the Top Cities rankings is that current and historical job growth is the most objective indicator of a region's economic vitality for entrepreneurs. More than three-quarters of all new jobs are created by small business, according to the Small Business Administration, so a region showing strong job growth is in all likelihood a hotbed of entrepreneurship." Leading the list of large cities are Atlanta, Riverside-San Bernardino and Las Vegas. Leading the list of medium-sized cities are Green Bay, Madison and Sarasota. Leading the list of small cities are Montpelier, Missoula and Casper.

Thanks to Tom Christoffel AICP

Sunday, March 7, 2004 in Inc. Magazine

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