- September 7, 2024
Loading
Florida gets the bronze medal in the latest top states to do business in survey — coming in behind big and small.
The big, in ValuePenguin’s 2018 Best and Worst States for Small Businesses report, is the No. 1 state on the list, Montana. The small is the No. 2 state, Rhode Island. The survey, according to a statement, uses multiple data points from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Small Business Administration to rank states where small businesses will succeed — or not.
A metric that put Florida among the top three is exports: nearly seven out of 10, 69%, of Florida’s’ large export total comes from small businesses, the report shows. “Exports of goods and services by a given state are great indications as to what a state's total revenue stream looks like,” the report adds.
The Sunshine State also scored well in the small business birth rate category, which tracks the rate at which small business are opened vs. closed. Florida posted a 118% score in that category, meaning there are 18% more small businesses being opened versus those shutting down, the survey states.
Two categories where Florida has room for improvement are the total number of people who work for small businesses and the state’s small business survival rate. On the former, the workforce, at 57% to 43%, skews big corporations over small businesses. The 43% puts Florida at No. 48 nationally, well behind Montana, at 66%, and Wyoming, at 62%, the report shows. On the small business survival rate Florida ranked No. 34, the report found, where 66% of small businesses stay open for more than two years.