States also should think deeply about the costs they are imposing for very small businesses, he said, noting that well-intentioned rules may be expensive or impossible to comply with for smaller companies with razor thin margins. “Ohio showed improvement in this year’s survey, but still needs to do more to improve its regulatory climate for small businesses”.
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Thumbtack is a consumer service for finding and hiring professionals.
Almost 18,000 U.S. small-business owners responded to this year’s survey, including 52 in Greenville and 259 in South Carolina.
New Orleans earned a D+ in zoning regulations.
Alabama earned a B+ for licensing and labor regulations.
If you want to start a business, look no further than your own backyard. For example, labor rules were 88% more important in driving state friendliness scores when compared with tax rates.
As long as the licensing process isn’t complicated, small business owners and entrepreneurs required to be licensed were just as favorable toward their city governments as those that didn’t have to be licensed.
Offering training on developing a business and navigating the local economic and policy environment was the single biggest factor that influenced perceptions of friendliness.
“Small businesses are vital to the Louisiana economy and important contributors to the overall well-being of communities throughout Louisiana”, said Governor Jindal. Thumbtack then evaluated states and cities against one another along more than a dozen metrics.
We compiled the top 10 cities from the survey along with Thumbtack’s grade for 5 key survey categories.
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The tech-based organization surveyed thousands of small business owners across the country, and Birmingham ranked 16 out of 95 cities surveyed for overall small business friendliness.
