OKC ranks among top cities in small business environment

Experts envision Oklahoma City to be among the leaders of the country’s small business ecosystem revival as the country emerges from the economic difficulties brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Justbusiness.com ranked Oklahoma City as the fourth-best city to work for a small business. The business website used a combination of factors including establishment rate, growth rate, employees, average payroll and housing costs into the equation. Oklahoma City’s 61.96 index score only trailed first-place New Orleans (74.20), Cleveland (67.27) and Buffalo, N.Y. (63.37).

"Small business is clearly on the rise in Oklahoma City." - Eric Goldschein, JustBusiness.com

The site editors mentioned Oklahoma City’s high ranking was mainly because it has the largest percentage (99.84%) of business establishments of fewer than 500 people. The city’s positive growth rate and low housing costs also played in its favor.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses accounted for 61.8 percent of net new jobs and represented 99.7 percent of firms with paid employees between Jan. 1993 and Oct. 2020.

To view details of the complete rankings visit justbusiness.com.