The location of your business remains one of the most important decisions you’ll make when starting or growing an organization – even if you’re one of those outfits that provides a bulk of their services online. Where you are physically plays into what customers you’ll attract, what competitors you’ll engage with, the partners you may find, the economies you’ll thrive in, and much more. Today we’ll look at some resources for identifying promising locations, comparing potential locations, and finding very detailed research on specific places.
If you’re working on selecting a site for a new business, thinking of relocating a current one, or just curious about what you can learn about your business community, consider the following sources to put you in the context of a place.
If you don’t have a place in mind…
Inc Magazine is one of many publications that put out Best Cities for Doing Business lists. Inc’s contribution, however, is notable for its coverage of cities of varying size (small, medium, and large lists), along with discussion of how energy prices affect local economies.
City-Data.com, a repurposer of city-specific government data, mashes those gov stats up into two collections of highly valuable lists of top cities in dozens of categories: The original Top 100 lists, and the updated (and more detailed) Top 101 lists. Use these to find the top cities with people with advanced degrees, biggest increases in household income, oldest residents, and many more options.
If you’re hoping to locate near tech-savvy consumers, use this Scarborough report on the Top Blogging Markets to identify likely cities.
If you’re looking for environmentally-conscious consumers, investigate Popular Science’s listing of America’s Greenest Cities.
If you’re interested in retired consumers, check out AARP’s listing of Healthy Cities that cater to active retirees.
These topic-focused city listings proliferate online. If you’re looking for “x,” try a search for “top cities for x” online. You’ll probably find something.
If you do have a couple of places in mind…
You can use various Census Bureau publications to identify and compare those locations, in some cases even looking at how specific industries operate there.
The State and County QuickFacts database provides broad business data on states and counties, such as manufacturers’ shipments, wholesale trade sales, retail trade per capita, and more. Use it to compare U.S. places in fairly general terms.
For more specifics on particular locations, consult the excellent State and Metro Area Data Book. The Metro Area section of this report is a good one-stop source for insight into such business-related items as population characteristics, income by industry data, and labor force tabulations. The State section allows for comparisons of cost of living indicators, transportation, communications, and financial services, among other topics. You can also easily compare locations based on all sorts of characteristics with the ranking tables.
If you’re in the manufacturing sector, the Annual Survey of Manufactures provides detailed location-specific statistics within this industry. From this comprehensive table, click the “Filter Rows” button in the top navigation bar, and select “By Geography” to specify one or more states. You can use this to compare manufacturing sales in potential locations.
Here in Minnesota, our Department of Employment and Economic Development goes to great and heroic lengths in reporting on business well-being and the local job market. The MN DEED Labor Market Economic Highlights provide big picture analysis, and the Employment Outlook Tool gives projections for job growth in specific industries. Check with your state’s equivalent for similar coverage.
It may not be your first priority, but you should also at some point consider real estate costs in your location search. Property management firm Grubb & Ellis publishes very current and very detailed research and makes much of it available for free in their Research & Knowledge Center. Especially note the Market Trend Reports which cover the office, industrial, retail, and warehouse sectors, and provide metro area-specific reports on vacancy, average rental rates, and more.
Good luck! If you have any questions, drop us a line (from wherever you may be).
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