Top 50 Entrepreneurial Cities Wondering how your burg measures up against other cities? Check out the Visa Entrepreneurial Index to find out.

By Steve Cooper

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

How entrepreneurial is your city? Visa asked that question and developed the Visa Entrepreneurial Index, which assigns a score between 1 and 100 to the nation's major Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) based on two main criteria: the average number of new business licenses and DBA registrations; and the number of utility patents issued.

Click here to see the list


RankMSAStateScore
1AustinTX95
2San DiegoCA93
3West Palm BeachFL93
4HoustonTX90
5RaleighNC90
6DallasTX87
7DetroitMI86
8Salt Lake CityUT85
9PhoenixAZ81
10SeattleWA81
11AtlantaGA79
12IndianapolisIN76
13CharlotteNC75
14Grand RapidsMI74
15TampaFL72
16Los AngelesCA71
17San FranciscoCA70
18BostonMA69
19HartfordCT68
20OrlandoFL68
21MilwaukeeWI68
22ColumbusOH68
23PortlandOR67
24SacramentoCA67
25RochesterNY66
26JacksonvilleFL66
27DenverCO65
28Las VegasNV64
29CincinnatiOH64
30ChicagoIL63
31ClevelandOH62
32PhiladelphiaPA61
33BuffaloNY60
34MemphisTN60
35Kansas CityMO59
36NashvilleTN58
37LouisvilleKY58
38New OrleansLA58
39GreensboroNC58
40MinneapolisMN57
41MiamiFL56
42RichmondVA56
43San AntonioTX56
44WashingtonDC55
45PittsburghPA53
46New YorkNY46
47ProvidenceRI38
48St. LouisMO35
49Oklahoma CityOK28
50NorfolkVA27

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