The cover story of the December 2000 issue of Inc. magazine, "Best Cities to Start and Grow a Company in Now" names the 100 best metro areas for entrepreneurial business. Here, we've added links to sites that tell you more about doing business in cities in those metro areas, such as sites for economic development departments or local chambers of commerce.

(Note: We provide the links below as a convenience to our readers, but neither Inc. nor inc.com has evaluated the accuracy of the material on these sites. Also, keep in mind that Inc.'s rankings involve entire metro areas; such metro areas may include two or more very different cities as well as the area immediately around them. So if you're considering an area, you may also want to research towns surrounding the major cities.)

50 Best Large Metro Areas for Entrepreneurial Businesses

Rank - Metro Area

1. Phoenix, AZ
2. Salt Lake City/Provo, UT
3. Atlanta, GA
4. Raleigh/Durham, NC
5. Indianapolis, IN
6. Dallas/Fort Worth, TX
7. Charlotte, NC-SC
8. Memphis, TN-AR-MS
9. Washington, DC-MD-VA
10. Orlando, FL
11. Denver/Boulder, CO
12. Birmingham/Tuscaloosa, AL
13. Grand Rapids/Muskegon, MI
14. San Diego, CA
15. Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN-WI
16. Louisville, KY-IN
17. Houston/Galveston, TX
18. Nashville, TN
19. Kansas City, MO-KS
20. Milwaukee/Racine/Sheboygan, WI
21. Columbus, OH
22. San Antonio, TX
23. Miami/Fort Lauderdale, FL
24. San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose, CA
25. Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN
26. Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL
27. Richmond, VA
28. St. Louis, MO-IL
29. Detroit, MI
30. Baltimore, MD
31. Chicago, IL-IN
32. Portland/Vancouver, OR-WA
33. Norfolk/Portsmouth/Virginia Beach, VA
34. Seattle, WA
35. Boston, MA
36. Los Angeles, CA
37. Dayton/Springfield, OH
38. Oklahoma City, OK
39. New Orleans, LA
40. Cleveland/Akron, OH
41. Greensboro/Winston-Salem, NC
42. Sacramento, CA
43. Philadelphia, PA-NJ
44. Bridgeport/Stamford/Norwalk, CT
45. Pittsburgh, PA
46. New York, NY-NJ
47. Buffalo, NY
48. Hartford, CT
49. Rochester, NY
50. Albany/Schenectady/Troy/Glen Falls, NY

50 Best Small Metro Areas for Entrepreneurial Businesses

Rank - Metro Area

1. Las Vegas, NV
2. Fargo/Moorhead, ND-MN
3. Sioux Falls, SD
4. Reno, NV
5. Austin, TX
6. Charleston, SC
7. Wilmington/Jacksonville, NC
8. Montgomery, AL
9. Columbia, SC
10. Baton Rouge, LA
11. Jacksonville, FL
12. Savannah, GA
13. Lafayette, LA
14. Green Bay/Appleton, WI
15. Lexington, KY
16. Fort Wayne, IN
17. Tucson, AZ
18. Mobile, AL
19. Omaha, NE-IA
20. Jackson, MS
21. El Paso, TX
22. Lincoln, NE
23. West Palm Beach, FL
24. Manchester/Nashua, NH
25. Greenville/Spartanburg/Anderson, SC
26. Boise, ID
27. Fort Collins/Loveland/Greeley, CO
28. Topeka/Lawrence, KS
29. Huntsville, AL
30. Wichita, KS
31. Wilmington, DE-NJ-MD
32. Springfield, MO
33. Portsmouth/Dover/Rochester, NH
34. Toledo, OH
35. Fort Myers, FL
36. Knoxville, TN
37. Madison, WI
38. Des Moines, IA
39. Panama City/Fort Walton Beach, FL
40. Corpus Christi, TX
41. Gainesville/Ocala, FL
42. Little Rock/Pine Bluff, AR
43. Columbus, GA-AL
44. Brownsville/McAllen, TX
45. Cedar Rapids/Iowa City, IA
46. Augusta, GA-SC
47. South Bend/Benton Harbor, IN-MI
48. Shreveport, LA
49. Lynchburg, VA
50. Pensacola, FL

Copyright © G+J USA Publishing 2000