Texas ranks No.1 as the best place in the country to launch a startup, according to a recent report.
Entrepreneurs are pouring into Texas for the opportunity to launch their own companies, according to the report from Lensa, a job search engine that connects job seekers with career opportunities.
Lensa narrowed down its ranking of best U.S. states to launch a startup by looking at several factors, including new business applications, business survival rate, rate of new entrepreneurs, corporate tax rate, the portion of college-educated population, labor costs, cost of living, and venture capital disbursed. According to the report, Texas scored 7.09 out of 10 based on these factors.
A breakdown of Lensa’s report shows that Texas landed in the top 20 in several of the aforementioned areas. These include ranking in the top 10 states for its corporate tax rate of 3.95% and the top 15 states for cost of living.
Additional factors used to calculate the score include the state’s 0.37% rate of new entrepreneurs and its 5.62% rate of business survival. With labor costs averaging $32,177 and venture capital distribution to the state showing $3,000 per $1 million of GDP, entrepreneurs in Texas are well positioned to see their businesses become successful.
New business application totals for 2022 have yet to be published, but Texas reported 492,243 applications in 2021, “beaten only by California and Florida,” Lensa said in its report.
With startups and small businesses driving growth in the state, entrepreneurs have an added shot at kickstarting their new businesses here in Texas.
“Small businesses are the very heart of our mighty Texas economy,” said Texas Governor Greg Abbott in a January 24 statement about the upcoming Statewide 2023 Governor’s Small Business Summit.
“More than 95 percent of Texas businesses are small, and they employ nearly half of all working Texans. From our big city centers to our smaller rural communities, the State of Texas is focused on developing an environment where entrepreneurs have the freedom to aspire, grow, and prosper,” he said. “I look forward to continuing to work with small businesses in every region of the state to ensure they have the tools needed to succeed for an even brighter Texas of tomorrow.”
While this wave of growth has swept across North Texas in particular, Dallas has suffered comparatively as high rates of crime, homelessness, and vagrancy turn off potential entrepreneurs and investors, as previously covered by The Dallas Express.
Behind Texas, Georgia ranked No.2, with an overall score of 6.68/10, while California ranked No.3, with a score of 6.56/10, according to the report. On the opposite end of the spectrum, states deemed the worst to launch a startup include North Dakota (2.88/10), West Virginia (2.96/10), and Rhode Island (3.11/10).