Minneapolis ranks as third best city for start-ups

Minneapolis is a nothern epicenter for start-up and entrepreneurial companies.

April 4, 2018 at 7:01PM
A kite boarder skim across Bde Maka Ska in front of the Minneapolis skyline in on March 16.
A kite boarder skim across Bde Maka Ska in front of the Minneapolis skyline in on March 16. (Mike Nelson — Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The small business services review site business.org says Minneapolis is the third best city for start-ups and entrepreneurs behind only San Francisco and Austin, Texas.

The site ranked the 40 largest metropolitan areas by such factors as the number of young adults (ages 25-34); those young adults with advanced degrees; the joblessness rate in each city; housing costs; and growth rates of start-up companies.

They pulled much of their data from census measures but also from the Kaufman Index's 2017 Growth Entrepreneurship report. That index measures among other things how much employment has grown at a cohort of startup companies after five years.

Under that measure Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington area ranked best in the country with a Rate of Startup Growth of 121.3 percent.

The website gives credit to Minneapolis with an aside to St. Paul but the census and Kaufman data is based on Metropolitan Statistical Areas which includes Minneapolis, St. Paul, Bloomington and more.

The factors business.org looked at aren't the only measures of start-up success but it's a good indication of the vibrancy our local market produces.

about the writer

about the writer

Patrick Kennedy

Reporter

Business reporter Patrick Kennedy covers executive compensation and public companies. He has reported on the Minnesota business community for more than 25 years.

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