Have an entrepreneurial spirit? Then you might want to move to Madison or Minneapolis.
Financial Web site NerdWallet recently ranked both cities in their list of the United States’ top-10 metropolitan areas for young entrepreneurs.
Why do these two Midwest cities rank so high? NerdWallet says that it’s relatively easy for young entrepreneurs to access small business loans in both Minneapolis/St. Paul and Madison. The site also pointed to the highly educated population of both metro areas — an important asset for any entrepreneur hoping to build a business — and the lower costs of living in both cities.
Minneapolis/St. Paul came in fifth place on the NerdWallet list, while Madison pulled up in the seventh spot. These were the only two Midwest metro areas on NerdWallet’s list.
According to NerdWallet, the Twin Cities area passed out $15.9 million worth of Small Business Administration loans for every 100,000 residents, seventh in the country. This area also posted an unemployment rate of 3.1 percent as of September of 2015, 10th in the country.
NerdWallet said that Madison’s unemployment rate stood at 2.7 percent in September of 2015, ranking it sixth in the country. The percent of residents here with a bachelor’s degree or higher was 44.7, eighth in the country.
NerdWallet ranked the Austin and Round Rock area of Texas as the best city for young entrepreneurs, while the San Francisco area came in second, Salt Lake City third and the Denver area fourth.
