Area cities make list of ‘best’ to start businesses

A host of Dayton-area and Ohio cities are one or the other list, however. Middletown is ranked at 780 among what the web site calls the 1,261 “best and worst” small cities to start a business. Troy is ranked at 928 on the same list. Huber Heights is put at 1063. Springfield is 1071. Hamilton, 1122. And Montgomery County’s second largest city, Kettering, is put at 1153.

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Dayton doesn’t appear on either list.

“For the large cities report we analyzed 182 cities — including the 150 most populated U.S. cities, plus at least two of the most populated cities in each state, so Dayton did not make this list,” a spokeswoman for WalletHub said in an email Monday.

For the report on smaller cities report, WalletHub examined 1,261 cities with a population between 25,000 and 100,000 residents. “

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“Again, Dayton did not make the list as it has a population of over 140,000,” the spokeswoman said.

The site says it corralled Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, LoopNet and other sources to gauge “business environment,” access to resources and costs involved starting a new company.

“Bigger is not always better,” the site says. “A city with a smaller population can offer a greater chance of success, depending on an entrepreneur’s type of business and personal preferences.”

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The Dayton area is seeing unmistakable jobs growth, however. Richard Stock, a University of Dayton researcher, said recently that the area has gained about 25,600 jobs in the past four years, and 9,900 jobs in the past year alone. Area employment as of March was at 393,800.

“I’ve waited so many years for this moment,” Stock said Friday.

WalletHub's large cities ranking is here, while the list of smaller cities can be found here.