Study gives mediocre ranking to Minneapolis, St. Paul.
Neither Minneapolis nor St. Paul ranked very well in a new study of best places for entrepreneurs.
The cities ranked 89th and 87th, respectively, on WalletHub’s 2015 list of best big U.S. cities to start a business.
Neighboring states’ cities fared better, with Milwaukee at No. 47 and and Madison at 72. Des Moines was 52 and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was 6. Topping the whole list was Shreveport, Louisiana, while the bottom, at No. 150, was Newark, New Jersey.
The study ranked Minneapolis 64th in access to resources, which comprises financing accessibility, office space affordability, employee availability and median annual income. St. Paul was ranked 59th in that category.
Minneapolis was 134th and St. Paul 143rd in the category of business environment, which factors in corporate taxes, cost of living, length of average workday, workforce education level, entrepreneurial activity, five-year establishment survival rate, number of small businesses per capita, industry variety and the Small Business Friendliness Index.
One bright spot: Minneapolis gained 29 spots on the overall ranking since last year, while St. Paul gained 49 spots.
In other recent WalletHub studies, Minnesota ranked 33rd in the country on a list of best states to be a taxpayer, and Minneapolis was ranked the 53rd best-run big city in the country, and St. Paul was 56th.
