Tampa Tops Best U.S. Cities for Startups, Florida Dominates Rankings

Tampa claimed the top spot among 100 U.S. cities for launching a new business. WalletHub's study dropped Monday. Florida placed six cities in the top 10. Orlando, Jacksonville, Hialeah and St. Petersburg snagged spots two through five.

WalletHub examined startup opportunities throughout the nation using 19 different metrics. These included five-year business survival rate, labor costs and office-space affordability. The examination broke down into three areas: business environment, access to resources and business costs.

"Starting a business can be very scary, considering one in every five startups doesn't make it past the first year," said Chip Lupo, WalletHub analyst, in a statement, per WTSP.com. "That's why it's especially important to live in a city that provides an environment where new businesses can thrive, with enough capital, workers and customers to keep it going long-term."

Tampa scored 64.15 out of 100 points. The top ranking stems from a low corporate tax rate that lets businesses keep more revenue, the study shows.

Investors per capita? Tampa has a bunch. Low taxes plus high capital gives businesses more resources to weather those brutal opening years, WalletHub discovered.

Tampa scores high on the Entrepreneurial Activity Index, which reveals that many startups in the city make it past those tough early days. Orlando landed in second with a score of 63.74, pushed there by faster growth in small businesses than most other cities across the nation.

The central Florida metro also ranks among the top cities on the Kauffman Early-Stage Entrepreneurship Index, meaning startups there survive at high rates while also being common.

Jacksonville grabbed third place with a score of 62.08. It posted the highest Entrepreneurial Activity Index score in the country. The city has some of the lowest corporate taxes nationwide and some of the highest rates of growth in business revenues.

St. Petersburg ranked 10th for business environment, 36th for access to resources, and 29th for business costs. Durham and Raleigh in North Carolina took spots six and seven. Tulsa and Oklahoma City in Oklahoma rounded out the top 10.

Washington, D.C., ranked last among the 100 cities examined. Data for the study were collected as of March 23, from sources like the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.