best place to start a business

Is starting a business on your to-do list this year? Are you open to launching in a location that’s not a major coastal city? Then you’ll want to check out NerdWallet’s list of the top cities to start a business.

NerdWallet calculated these factors when assessing the best startup locations:

  1. How easy is it to get startup funding?
  2. How friendly is the city to business in general?
  3. How is the local economy doing?
  4. How easy will it be to hire employees?
  5. How affordable is the cost of living in the area?

After assessing all of these factors, Atlanta led the list. The remaining cities might surprise you–and appeal to you if you like the idea of living in a slower-paced, more affordable city than, say, New York or San Francisco. But while the winning cities boast a great quality of life and reasonable cost of living, they’ve also got thriving entrepreneurial communities. Check out the rest of the list at NerdWallet.