Entrepreneurs looking to start a business in a small Arizona community might want to look at San Luis.
A new study by the online financial advice firm WalletHub ranks the tiny Yuma County community as the best small place for startups.
Why? No other small city or town anywhere in the country has greater worker availability, the study says. That’s one possible upside to the chronically high unemployment in rural Yuma County.
WalletHub also finds the area’s low household median annual income — $31,064 — is 54th lowest among the 1,268 small communities it studied. That means there is probably a ready pool of workers willing to take jobs at startups — and at the salaries such companies are likely to offer, the study concludes.
The city of Yuma was one notch behind at No. 2 for employee availability.
WalletHub also found some positive reasons for startup businesses to check out some other small Arizona communities.
Sierra Vista’s strongest factor was the low cost of office space. Only Bullhead City had cheaper rents among Arizona communities.
Casa Grande is bolstered by a cost of living that is the 88th-lowest among small communities nationwide, the study says. It also had the highest average revenue per business of any of the Arizona cities, at more than $5 million a year.
At the other extreme is Oro Valley, which has a high median income that WalletHub takes as a sign of a high cost of labor. Office space in the community is also relatively expensive.
On the plus side, however, more than half of Oro Valley’s residents have at least a bachelor’s degree, the highest percentage of any Arizona community, the study says.
