Thumbtack.com, in partnership with the Kauffman Foundation, has released new data showing that small businesses rank Virginia among the top ten friendliest states nationwide towards small business. And within Virginia, the Western Valley ranks as being the state’s lowest-cost region for hiring a new employee.
There are a lot of “business climate rankings”, but there aren’t any that draw upon considerable data from small business owners themselves. The Thumbtack.com Small Business Survey is the only survey to draw data from an extensive, nationwide universe of job creators and entrepreneurs themselves in order to investigate the best places in the country to do business.
“After a two-month survey of over 6,000 small business owners nationwide, Virginia again comes out on top as one of the nation’s friendliest states for small business,” said Sander Daniels, co-founder of Thumbtack.com. “Small businesses looking for a place to hang a shingle or to plant a flag cannot do much better than Western Valley region.”
Some of the key findings for the region include:
Metro DC is the state’s stand-out region, receiving #1 rankings for 6 of the 17 categories rated by small businesses. In contrast, Western Virginia fails along multiple dimensions, receiving the lowest ranking for a variety of categories – the region is the state’s most difficult for starting a new business and has the state’s least healthy small businesses. Small businesses rated Northern Virginia as having the state’s healthiest businesses, and Hampton Roads businesses were more pessimistic about their economic future than those of any other region.
Here’s how Virginia’s regions ranked, from lowest to highest hiring costs for small businesses: 1. Western Valley, 2. Northern Virginia, 3. Metro DC, 4. Hampton Roads, 5. Central/Eastern Virginia, and 6. Western Virginia.
Virginia soared above its rivals in a variety of rankings, earning an A-, A, or A+ grade in 10 of 12 possible rankings. The state’s best showing was for overall friendliness towards small business, where the state earned an A for its ranking as #7 most friendly nationwide.
Surprisingly, women-owned small businesses in Virginia felt much more comfortable economically than did their male counterparts. Female entrepreneurs were 6% more likely than male entrepreneurs to rate their company’s current financial situation as “good” or “very good”.
Virginia excels when compared against other states in the Mid-Atlantic – the state ranks first among Mid-Atlantic regions for overall small business friendliness, lowest cost of hiring a new employee, and ease of starting a small business.
The full survey results can be seen here and include full sets of rankings, dozens of easily searchable quotes from Virginia small businesses, regional comparisons within states, and Census data comparing Virginia’s key demographics against those of other states.
Survey methodology
Thumbtack.com surveyed 6,022 small businesses across the United States. The survey asked questions about the friendliness of states towards small business and about small business finances, such as:
“In general, how would you rate your state’s support of small business owners?”
“Would you discourage or encourage someone from starting a new business in your state?” and
“How would you rate your company’s financial situation today?”
What is Thumbtack.com?
Thumbtack.com is a place where you can hire help locally. Need a DJ, carpenter, boot camp instructor, or hot dog truck caterer? Tell us what you need, and we’ll bring you 3-5 bids on that job to your email inbox within 24 hours. More than 275,000 small businesses and freelancers have listed their services on Thumbtack nationwide.
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