Business-friendly tax rates and access to local universities were hailed as the primary factors for the Raleigh area to land as the 11th best area for startups, according to a national study.
Real Estate Witch, an online platform for analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data, released a report recently that slotted Raleigh in the 11th spot, right behind Kansas City, Missouri and above Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
"Raleigh is an important spoke in the educational hub known as the Research Triangle: comprising North Carolina State, North Carolina, and Duke universities," noted the authors of the study. "All three schools have prominent entrepreneurship programs that encourage students to innovate. The metro is one of the most inventive on our list, ranking No. 7 for most patents filed (4.96) per 1,000 residents in the last five years."
The study named Las Vegas, Nevada as the best city for startups, followed by Salt Lake City, Utah. Orlando and Miami Florida took the 3rd and the 4th spot respectively, and Atlanta rounded up the top 5.
Among other things, the study looked at business applications per 100,000 residents, LLC and Inc. filing fees, corporate tax rate, number of CEOs per 1,000 residents and patents per 1,000 residents in communities.
"The students who graduate from these universities (UNC, Duke, NCSU and others) are positioned for success with business-friendly tax rates and a pipeline of specialized workers," the report noted. "As young entrepreneurs look toward the future, interest in the Google search term “starting a business” has grown to No. 5 on our list."
The only other North Carolina city ranked among top 50 was Charlotte, which came in 19th.