Fort Myers second-best small town to start a small business

A new study published this month by WalletHub shows Florida has some of the best locales to get a startup going.

Florida is home to eight of the top 20 small towns for small businesses. The only other state near Florida in terms of top 20 towns is Utah, with five.

WalletHub analysts evaluated 1,334 small cities in the U.S. The outlet rated Fort Myers as No. 2 in the nation, placing behind only St. George, Utah.

WalletHub used 18 metrics to compare cities and establish an overall score. Key among those elements are business environment, access to resources, and business costs.

Fort Myers scored 62.33 and was fourth in the country for access to resources. The city placed No. 44 for business environment but lagged in terms of business costs, at No. 191.

Still, WalletHub analysts said the Southwest Florida hub has many facets that are attractive to entrepreneurs.

“Fort Myers is the second-best small city to start a business with one of the highest numbers of investors per capita in the country, which improves the chances of startups finding the funding they need,” the WalletHub report concluded. “This investment access allowed the number of small businesses in the city to grow by nearly 21% between 2017 and 2023.”

Fort Myers also rated well in terms of affordability. The report found office space costs about $12.20 per square foot.

Other Florida small towns in the top 20 include Boca Raton at No. 7, Ocala at No. 9, South Bradenton at No. 11, Lake Worth at No. 12, Palm Beach Gardens at No. 15, Horizon West at No. 16 and East Lake-Orient at No. 17.

There are plenty of other Florida small cities in the top 40, including Winter Park at No. 22, Dania Beach at No. 26, Sarasota at No. 27, Immokalee at No. 32, Pensacola at No. 35 and Bradenton at No. 37.

Florida has fared well in other WalletHub analyses. The Sunshine State was ranked the sixth-best state to live in for 2025 and was the second-best state in the 2024 rankings.

But there were some areas where the Sunshine State wasn’t so hot. Florida was ranked in the lower half of states for women’s financial well-being.