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Starting a business and owning a home—two slices of the American Dream. While not every American will pursue the former, those who do will also have to consider the latter. Finding the right place to launch your business venture involves many different factors...including finding a city where housing affordability will prove beneficial to both entrepreneurs and potential employees. It turns out the best town for starting a business in 2018 isn’t on the coasts—it’s in Oklahoma.
That’s according to WalletHub’s new report entitled “2018’s Best Large Cities to Start a Business.” WalletHub examined more than 180 U.S. cities, measuring each in terms of 19 business-related metrics such as five-year business survival rates and the price of office space. The result? Oklahoma City tops WalletHub’s list as the best large city for budding entrepreneurs, thanks to strong performance in terms of business environment, access to resources, and business costs.
While WalletHub’s report doesn’t address local home prices specifically, that’s an important factor worth considering as well, both for the entrepreneur starting out and when it comes to attracting employees as the business grows. The median local home value in OKC is $126,566, well below the national median of $213,146. Like many American markets, however, Oklahoma City home prices have been on the rise, up 4.2 percent year-over-year and with Zillow data predicting another 2.9 percent increase over the next year
Austin, Texas, is next on WalletHub’s list of the best large cities for aspiring entrepreneurs. Affordability will likely be more of an issue in Austin than up in Oklahoma, as the median Austin home value is $344,325 according to Zillow, up 7.2 percent year-over-year and with a projected 4.2 percent increase over the next year.
Sioux Falls, South Dakota, comes in third according to WalletHub. How does it stack up when it comes to home prices? Still coming in below the national median, Sioux Falls’ median home value is currently listed as $180,251 by Zillow, up 7.4 percent year-over-year and with a projected 3.2 percent increase over the next year.
From there, the rest of WalletHub’s top 10 breaks down like so: Missoula, Montana, comes in at fourth place, followed by Durham, North Carolina; Bismarck, North Dakota; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Billings, Montana; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Raleigh, North Carolina. With three of the top 10 cities within its borders, North Carolina must be doing something right.
Of these top 10 cities, only four feature median home values at or below the national average: Oklahoma City, Sioux Falls, Durham, and Charlotte.
To see WalletHub’s full list of “2018’s Best Large Cities to Start a Business,” click here.
