Raleigh ranks No. 1 as best city to start online business; Charlotte is No. 2 

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A new study ranks Raleigh No. 1 and Charlotte No. 2 as the best cities across the U.S. to launch an online business.

The report – from Business CenturyLink.com – considered a variety of criteria ranging from taxes to quality of life, internet access and business environment.

A recent report from the N.C. State Treasurers Office recently reported that the launching of new businesses across North Carolina is setting a torrid pace.

Here’s a look at the CenturyLink report and what it had to say about the top 10 cities:

1. Raleigh, NC

Raleigh is part of North Carolina’s Research Triangle, a region located in the center of NC. According to their website, the Research Triangle is described as a “… region that is home to some of the fastest-growing companies and communities in the world.”

2. Charlotte, NC

Charlotte is known as “The Banking Capital” as it is the home of Bank of America HQ and the Wells Fargo East Coast Division, and is recognized by the number of fintech companies headquartered in the city.

Criteria for the report

Here are the data points used in compiling the report:

Quality of Life Index – the list contains 53 cities with the highest quality of life index from the Quality of Life in the United States report. (Data last collected on April 19th, 2022 and changes periodically). This variable is based on an average from the following variables: Purchasing Power Index, Safety Index, Healthcare Index, Cost of Living Index, Property Price to Income Ratio, Traffic Commute Time Index, Pollution Index, and Climate Index.

Tax Rank – this variable was determined based on the rank provided by the Tax Foundation. The data includes 50 states and is based on the 2022 State Business Tax Climate Index Ranks and Component Ranks. To get the overall rank, the following were used: Corporate Tax Rank, Individual Income Tax Rank, Sales Tax Rank, Property Tax Rank, and Unemployment Insurance Tax Rank.

Economy Ranking – a US News data set provides the data for this variable. They measured states’ economic stability and potential based on the following variables: Business environment, employment, and growth.

Average speed and Broadband – this dataset contains 50 US states listed within the ‘Average Internet Speed by State 2022’ from World Population Review. Internet Speed is important because it measures how much data and information can be transferred over the web in a single connection. Bandwidth measures the number of frequencies that a network connection can handle.

Government Tech Grade – a variable that was created based on the Government Technology biennial survey ‘Digital States Survey 2020’. This survey evaluates states’ use of technology to improve service delivery, increase capacity, streamline operations, reach policy goals and assign each state a grade based on quantified results. The results are based on a grading system, and for this, piece we had to give the grades a number based on the Grading System:

  • A = 95
  • A- = 91.25
  • B+ = 88.75
  • B = 85
  • B- = 81.25
  • C+ = 78.75
  • C = 75

Original Article Source: WRAL TechWire