Music City ranks high for places to start a business – Nashville Business Journal
Nashville’s reputation as a tech city is growing and entrepreneurs are taking note. A recent study by Clever, a real estate data company, showed Music City is the 15th most popular city in the country for people looking to start a new business.
The study found Nashville is the best city to network with startup founders — there are a reported 4.14 CEOs for every 1,000 residents of the city.
“Nashville is home to nearly 4,000 health care companies that garnered $940 million in venture capital from 2005 to 2015, 60% of total investment dollars at that time,” Jaime Dunaway-Seale, the author of the report, states in the study. “The metro’s high number of health care companies creates the perfect environment for competition and innovation, especially among students.”
In the last five years there has been an average of 5,709 business applications per 100,000 residents, compared to the national average of 5,931.
The city is ranked only slightly below San Jose, California (No. 13), home of longtime tech mecca Silicon Valley.
The state’s low taxes are part of the appeal — Tennessee’s corporate tax rate is 6.5% and new companies only pay an incorporation fee of $125.
The study shows Nashville continues to be a destination for a variety of reasons, whether it be entrepreneurs aiming to start a venture, residents looking to buy a home in a cheaper market or businesses looking relocate. While many welcome the growth it brings its own set of challenges — namely housing.
A recent Re/Max study found the average cost of a home in Davidson County had reached a record high of $410,000, and that there is just over a one-month supply of houses available in the city. As supply chain issues and a complicated zoning/development approval process has also reportedly slowed the pace at which homebuilders can deliver new homes.
As Nashville’s home prices increase and its supply dwindles, many new arrivals are looking to neighboring communities for homes.
Compounding the problem, numerous businesses have announced plans to open facilities throughout the region, promising new jobs but raising the question of where new employees will live.
Clever determined its rankings by analyzing publicly available data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Patent Office and Google Trends, among others.
Read the full Clever report here.
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