Texas Named One of Best States to Start a Business in 2024

The Lone Star State is once again one of the best states in America to start a business, according to a new study.

The financial site Lendio revealed the results of a new study this past week and they now rank Florida as the top state followed by Texas and North Carolina. (Texas held the top spot in this ranking last year.)

What are the reasons for Texas ranking so high?

According to the study, Texas ranks high due to lower taxes, a population influx, business funding, and higher amounts of personal consumption expenditures.

What are the metrics for this study?

Lendio explored trends in 10 metrics that are critical to the success of small business owners in 2024.

Those metrics included small business lending, cost of living, real estate data, educated worker migration, corporate tax rates, state-level incentives for business owners, and more.

Top 10 states to start a small business

Here are the top 10 states in the ranking:

1. Florida
2. Texas
3. North Carolina
4. Colorado
5. South Carolina
6. Ohio
7. Georgia
8. Massachusetts
9. Utah
10. Oklahoma

The following map illustrates each state's ranking. Hover over a state to see its particular ranking.

Other findings in the report regarding Texas

While Texans receive a lower amount of SBA loan approvals per 100,000 residents than other states, they were the seventh-highest state for loans offered through Lendio's marketplace.

The lasting power of start-ups has done pretty well in Texas too. Of the businesses started in 2017 in the state, more than half survived five years of operations. That's better than many other states.

According to Census Bureau data, more than 400,000 people with at least some college education moved to Texas in 2022, making it a great state for educated entrepreneurs to thrive.

Texas has also become a popular place for Americans to relocate, thanks in part to no state income tax.