Cha-ching! Seattle named top city in nation for most profitable businesses
SEATTLE -- If you own a business in Seattle, odds are the best in the nation that it's making money.
A new study by LendingTree finds Seattle has the highest rate of profitable businesses in the country. Of the 51,661 total businesses in Seattle surveyed by the U.S. Census Bureau, 36,643 reported making a profit -- a whopping 70.93% success rate and the only city in the nation that topped 70%.
The rests of the Top 10:
- Seattle - 70.93%
- Louisville, Ky. - 69.98%
- Indianapolis - 69.92%
- Portland, Ore. - 69.85%
- Denver - 69.37%
- Columbus, Ohio - 69.09%
- Minneapolis - 69.05%
- Milwaukee - 68.44%
- Nashville, Tenn. - 68.21%
- Charlotte, N.C. - 67.93%
Of the rest of the firms in Seattle, 16% reported losing money and 13% reported breaking even, researchers found.
Small business exits were down in Seattle, with a greater number of startups in the third quarter of 2017, the most recent information available, according to the study. Washington’s overall economy grew at 5.8% in the third quarter of 2018, faster than the U.S. national rate of 3.4%.
New York City was deemed the city with the fewest profitable businesses, but even then more than half there make money (57.38%). On the other hand, Houston was the unfortunate champion of the unprofitable firm. According to Census Bureau data, 23.37% of firms there report a loss, according to LendingTree.