Pittsburgh named No. 1 city for small businesses
Bridges and buildings in Downtown Pittsburgh reflect off the city’s mirror-like rivers on an early spring morning. Photo Date: March 29, 2019 Photo Credit: (RMU Sentry Media/Gage Goulding)
April 7, 2019
PITTSBURGH – Pittsburgh is the best place to launch a small business, according to Citimart ratings.
The ratings were based on 56 other U.S. cities. According to Citimart, Pittsburgh ranks first in openness to small businesses and their ideas. The Small Business Accessibility Score determines the rankings of the cities.
Pittsburgh scored highest on the Small Business Accessibility Score, which uses a scale from zero to five. The top five cities are listed below:
1. Pittsburgh – 4.30
2. San Antonio – 4.15
3. San Diego – 4.07
4. Harris County – 4.05
5. Charlotte – 3.95
Cities that score high on accessibility did so by paying attention to the discovery process and providing consumers with a variety of programs to help them find small businesses.
Citimart gathered data on places with a population of more than five hundred thousand individuals, as well as seventy government agencies. The bottom five places for small businesses are listed below:
52. Jacksonville – 2.39
53. New York City – 2.34
54. Denver – 2.09
55. San Mateo County – 1.63
56. Riverside County – 0.67
Pittsburgh offers online resources for small business owners including Beacon, the online procurement system which offers features such as a bid board people.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) acting director Jennifer Olzinger oversees the procurement process. Beacon also allows people to submit proposals electronically.
“I want to thank OMB for all the work it has done to provide better services to businesses and residents alike,” Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto said.
Citimart found that cities who scored highly used a variety of platforms for procurement, both in-house and online.
“The investments we have made in upgrading procurement technology, along with the creation of numerous policies and procedures to instill best practices in all aspects of City procurement, have clearly paid off,” said Peduto.
Citimart urges innovative ways to support small businesses to encourage more growth.
To view all of Citimart’s rankings, visit their website.
