April 24. By Dave Yochum. North Carolina has four cities—Charlotte, Durham, Raleigh and Winston-Salem—on WalletHub’s 20 Best Cities to Start a Business.

WalletHub compared the relative startup conditions and opportunities that exist in 100 cities. They used 19 key metrics, ranging from the five-year business-survival rate to labor costs to office-space affordability.

Durham ranked 5; Charlotte, 8; Raleigh, 11; and Winston-Salem, 13.

Taking the entrepreneurial plunge

“Starting a business is a daunting task, particularly in the challenging economy we are facing today but North Carolina, and specifically the Charlotte region, has an outstanding supply of skilled workers along with access to financial investment. I continue to be amazed at the entrepreneurial spirit here at the lake and feel fortunate and blessed to have spent much of my career with such talented and creative business owners,” said Bill Russell, CEO of the Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce.

When it came to absolute superlatives, North Carolina cities weren’t best of show, but they were consistently very good.

For example, Charlotte was 11th in business environment, according to the WalletHub study.

Worst-ranked overall, Washington, DC, came in at 93rd in business environment, but third-best educated workforce.

Florida

Florida had the greatest number of cities—five—in WalletHub’s Top 20, and Orlando, Jacksonville, Miami and Tampa owning the Top 4 in that order. St. Petersburg scored 18th place.

Texas

Texas had four cities in the Top 20: Fort Worth (No. 9); Austin (No. 10); Arlington (No. 19); and Dallas (No. 16).

Colorado

The next best state for entrepreneurs was Colorado, with Aurora (No. 14), Colorado Springs (No. 15) and Denver (No. 16) among the Top 20 cities.

Nurturing small business

Kathryn Elliott, director of the Center of Entrepreneurship at High Point University, said there is a method to nurturing entrepreneurship on a state level as well as locally.

“State and local authorities can stimulate business growth by creating a safe yet more small business-friendly legal environment, investing in the business and entrepreneurial training, reduction of bureaucratic red tape, and lastly encouraging networking collaboratively amongst businesses and investors locally and statewide,” she said.

As for would-be entrepreneurs, she said there are advantages to starting up in a larger city, although costs may be higher.

“In the end there is great benefit for any community that embraces these entrepreneurial companies. They tend to be loyal to their hometowns and have a great spirit of giving back,” Elliott said.