Atlanta is America's fifth-friendliest city for small businesses and Georgia is the sixth-friendliest state, a new survey of 6,000 small business owners nationwide found.
The survey, done by Thumbtack.com in partnership with the Kauffman Foundation, showed that Atlanta scored well in most of the categories that respondents assessed and in the upper half in all but two of those categories. The survey included 40 cities.
Atlanta scored highest in networking programs, where it was ranked No. 3, and in optimism about the future, where it placed No. 5.
The city ranked No. 30 in growth rate last year, however, No. 26 in current economic health and No. 25 in environmental regulations.
Other categories with Atlanta’s rankings: ease of starting a business (No. 6); training programs (No. 11); employment, labor and hiring (No. 12); hiring costs (No. 14); licensing (No. 14); tax code (No. 15); regulations (No. 16); health and safety (No. 16); and zoning (No. 19).
Georgia scored highest in ease of starting a business, coming in at No. 7, and in networking programs and optimism. It ranked eighth in each.
The state rated No. 32 in current economic health and No. 40 in growth rate last year.
South Georgia was called, "the state's stand-out region" for small businesses, while North Georgia was said to "fail along multiple dimensions" because of the region's high cost of hiring employees and pessimism about the future.
The top states for small business friendliness were Idaho, Texas, Oklahoma, Utah and Louisiana.
The top cities were Oklahoma City, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin.
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