Houston a top-10 city for small businesses

According to a recent anaysis from The Business Journals, Houston ranks among the top 10 best cities for small businesses.

"The On Numbers analysis ranked the city No. 8, down from No. 4 last year. Houston has 19.91 small businesses per 1,000 people and experienced 3.81 percent growth in private-sector jobs between 2011 and 2012.

The Business Journals ranked 102 markets based on the following six factors (each factor’s formula weight is in brackets):

Concentration of small businesses, expressed as a ratio per 1,000 residents [30 percent]

One-year (2009-2010) percentage change in concentration [10 percent]

One-year (2009-2010) percentage change in the number of small businesses [10 percent]

Five-year (2006-2011) percentage change in population [12.5 percent]

Five-year (2007-2012) percentage change in private-sector employment [12.5 percent]

One-year (2011-2012) percentage change in private-sector employment [25 percent]

Compared to other markets, Houston performed the best in five-year growth in private-sector employment. Its 5 percent growth ranked it No. 3, behind fellow Texas metros Austin (7.53 percent) and McAllen-Edinburg (6.12 percent).

Austin also took the top spot for the overall ranking."