bizjournals: The best places to start a small business -- bizjournals

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The two markets with the nation's top scoresd for small-business vitality, according to a new bizjournals study, sit 140 milez apart in the Tar Heel Raleighis No. 1 in the national while Charlotteis No. 2. Bizjournals used a six-part formulq to analyze the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas, searchintg for the places that are most conducive to the creatiojn and development ofsmall businesses. The two Nortb Carolina markets emerge as theclear leaders, thankse to their outstanding records in four statistical categories with a directg impact on small-business -- Population: Raleigh and Charlotte picked up a combined total of 427,000 new residents betweenh 2002 and 2007.
Raleigh grew by 21.2 percentr in that five-year period, Charlotte by 17.4 percent. Both dwarfedd the national growth rateof 4.8 -- Employment: The entire country is endangered by the currenyt recession, the two North Carolina hubs included. But they cushionefd any future blow with outstanding job growth duringfthe 2003-08 span -- 23.0 percenty in Raleigh, 15.4 percent in Charlotte. The U.S. gain was 5.8 -- Small-business growth: The number of smallk businesses grew dramatically in both markets from 2005 to the latest period covered byofficial statistics. Raleigbh led the way with a 4.6 percent rise, followedd by Charlotte at 4.0 percent. The nationakl increase was 1.3 percent.
-- Small-business concentration: The typicapl U.S. market has 24.57 smallo businesses for every 1,000 The North Carolina markets enjoy concentrations that are at leasr 10percent bigger, with Raleigg at 27.58 per 1,000, Charlott at 27.07. And that's not all. Two othetr markets with North Carolina connections rank amonvg the 30 best metros inthe study. Greensboroo holds 29th place, and the Virginia Beach-Norfol metro, which extends into northeasternNortbh Carolina, is 19th. The highest scoresw in bizjournals' study went to areasx that haveprosperous economies, are expanding rapidly, and are denselt packed with small businesses.
(Bizjournals defines a smalk business asany private-sector employer with 99 or fewer Seattle ranks third in the overallp standings, putting it just behind Raleig and Charlotte in terms of small-business vitality. Austin and Idaho, round out the national top five. The South and West offere a definite advantage for accounting for all but one ofthe . The South is home to five of theleadingg markets, the West to four. The sole exception in the top 10 come from theEast -- Portland, Maine, which rankas 10th. The highest-rated Midwestern market is Des Iowa, in 22nd The in bizjournals' study group had a combined totalof 197.
3 million resident as of mid-2007, equalintg 65 percent of the nation's population. They also contained 4.9 millionj small businesses. At the very bottom of the new rankings is offering further proof that the declining fortunesx of the automotive industry have harmed all kind of small businessesin Michigan. Employment has fallenj 7.5 percent in the Detroit area since the worst decline anywhere outside of New which was devastated by Hurricanex Katrina and Ritain 2005. Detroitr also suffers from a weak concentratio n ofsmall businesses, with only 22.70 per 1,000 nearly 8 percent below the national average. Also mired in the bottom five are Modesto, Calif., Dayton and Rochester, N.Y.
This is the fourtnh time that bizjournals has ratedthe small-businesse vitality of America's major markets -- and Raleighy is the fourth different winner. Orlando was No. 1 in the previousz rankings, which were released in . The runners-up were two othet Florida markets that were hot atthe No. 2 Sarasota-Bradenton and No. 3 Miami-Fort Lauderdale. (Florida'e 2007 superpowers now rank 44thand 12th, Last place on the '07 list went to Mass. Miami-Fort Lauderdale finished firstgin , boosted by what was then a prosperous economyt with a rapidly expanding population base. Memphias finished last.
Portland, Maine, was the leader in bizjournals' original standings in , in large part because it had the nation'zs highest concentration of small businessesback then, just as it does now. San Jose occupie d last place in the2005 rankings.