Providence metro’s small cities show poor outing in WalletHub’s ‘Best Small Cities to Start a Business’ rankings

PROVIDENCE – No small city in the Providence metropolitan area cracked the top 300 in WalletHub’s 2018 “Best Small Cities to Start a Business” report released Monday.

East Providence ranked No. 303 in the report, the highest of any city in the metro area.

The study weighed 17 metrics in the categories of business environment, access to resources and business costs of 1,261 cities. WalletHub considered United States cities with a population of 25,000 to 100,000 for the report.

East Providence’s highest ranking was for its average growth of business revenue from 2012 to 2017, where it ranked No. 1 in the nation with 313.01 percent growth. The average 2017 revenue was estimated to be $17.25 million.

The city ranked No. 69 for business environment, No. 624 for business cost and No. 1,060 for access to resources.

Attleboro was the city in the Providence metro area that ranked lowest at No. 1,204 of 1,261 cities nationally. The city ranked its worst for working-age population growth, job growth and average commute time.

Warwick was the lowest-ranked city in Rhode Island in the study at No. 920.

Holland, Mich., ranked No. 1 overall for best small city to start a business in the nation.

Providence metro area cities’ rankings:

• East Providence: No. 303 (Business Environment: No. 69, Access to Resources: No. 1,060, Business Costs: No. 624).
• Pawtucket: No. 606 (Business Environment: No. 1,001, Access to Resources: No. 686, Business Costs: No. 437).
• Woonsocket: No. 626 (Business Environment: No. 1,101, Access to Resources: No. 615, Business Costs: No. 372).
• New Bedford: No. 678 (Business Environment: No. 935, Access to Resources: No. 519, Business Costs: No. 507).
• Cranston: No. 849 (Business Environment: No. 877, Access to Resources: No. 748, Business Costs: No. 676).
• Taunton: No. 881 (Business Environment: No. 1,011, Access to Resources: No. 782, Business Costs: No. 743).
• Fall River: No. 897 (Business Environment: No. 1,027, Access to Resources: No. 1,088, Business Costs: No. 473).
• Warwick: No. 920 (Business Environment: No. 927, Access to Resources: No. 864, Business Costs: No. 698).
• Attleboro: No. 1,204 (Business Environment: No. 1,111, Access to Resources: No. 1,166, Business Costs: No. 856).