The city of Alcoa ranked first in Tennessee among places to start a business accooding to a blog post written by NerdWallet.com’s Jonathan Todd, entitled “Best Places to Start a Business in Tennessee.”
NerdWallet analyzed 85 places in Tennessee with populations of 5,000 or more. It excluded places with less than 500 businesses, regardless of the population. The overall score for each community was calculated using these criteria:
Business climate is 65% of the overall score and is based on three metrics from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. The average revenue of businesses is 20% of the score (a higher average contributed to a higher overall score), the percentage of businesses with paid employees makes up 25% of the score (a higher percentage contributed to a higher overall score) and businesses per 100 people make up 20% of the score (a higher number contributed to a higher overall score).
Local economic health makes up 35% of the overall score. It’s based on three metrics from the American Community Survey. Median annual income is 10% of the score (with a higher median contributing to a higher overall score), median annual housing costs are 10% of the score (a higher median contributed to a higher overall score) and unemployment rate is 15% of the score (a lower rate contributed to a higher overall score).
Pigeon Forge was second, followed by Crossville in third. Other East Tennessee cities that ranked in the top 20 were Greeneville at No. 6, Bristol at No. 10, Sevierville at No. 11, Athens at No. 12, Morristown at No. 13, Cleveland at No. 14, Knoxville at No. 15 and Kingsport at No. 18. Maryville came in at 26, ahead of Oak Ridge at 29, Chattanooga at 30 and Clinton at 31.
Click here to view the entire blog post with complete rankings.